The villagers appealed the state government and the local MLA on several occassions to construct a bridge over the river, but neither of them responded.
Hemanta Kumar Nath, Guwahati: The people of ten villages of Kachumara area in Assam’s Barpeta district have constructed a bridge by bearing the complete cost themselves.
Without any financial support from the government, the villagers built a bamboo bridge on a tributary river of Brahmaputra river with their own money.
The villagers spent about Rs 10 lakh to construct the bridge.
The bridge is about 250 metres long and it connects to Kachumara Bazaar area.
People from ten villages of the area were facing a lot of difficulties by not having a bridge over the river.
Crossing the river during monsoon season was an uphill task for the villagers since several decades.
The task was more challenging when children were forced to cross the river by using country-made small boats to reach their schools.
The villagers appealed the state government and the local MLA on several occassions to construct a bridge over the river, but neither of them responded.
The villagers earlier also used country-made boats to carry patients, food items.
Finally, 6,000 people from ten villagers decided to construct a bridge on the river with their own money.
Some local youths took the initiative and collected the money and other items from the villagers for the purpose of bridge construction.
On Saturday, the bamboo bridge was formally inaugurated and the villagers were overjoyed as they celebrated.
A local youth said that each family of the area had contributed to construct the bridge.
“About Rs 10 lakh was spent to construct the bamboo bridge. This bridge is not permanent. We appeal to the government to construct a permanent bridge,” the local youth said.
