Palampur: Bridge not fixed, children take 10 km detour to school daily

Ravinder Sood

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Palampur, February 13

Residents of 20 panchayats of the Dathi area in the Sullah Assembly constituency in Kangra district have been trying hard for the past nine months to get a bridge on the Mol Khud repaired, which was damaged in the last rainy season. Despite repeated requests to the Public Works Department (PWD), the bridge and its approaches had not been repaired.

The villagers say that they are cut off from lower areas in the absence of the bridge. Children have to travel 10 km extra everyday to reach school and the villagers have to cover additional 15 km to go to nearby markets. They allege that the state government is metting out a step-motherly treatment to the Dathi area, as former Assembly Speaker from the BJP Vipin Singh Parmar represents the constitency.

A senior PWD officer says that an estimate for the repair of the approaches and a part of the bridge was sent to the state government for approval, but till date, no funds had been released. He adds that a makeshift retaining wall has already been constructed for the movement of light vehicles.

Local Congress leader and former MLA Jagjivan Pal says that he has met the Executive Engineer, (PWD), in this regard many a time, but all in vain. He adds that PWD officials procured bamboo from local residents and installed a makeshift retaining wall, which was a cruel joke with people. “How long can bamboo sticks hold the retaining wall of a big bridge? It can collapse any moment, leading to a tragedy,” he alleges.

Jagjivan says that the PWD should restore the bridge on priority, as it is used by hundreds of people everyday. Most of the roads damaged in the last rainy season in Sullah are yet to be repaired. The condition of the Palampur-Hamirpur highway passing through Sullah has worsened in the absence of repair work.