Bhadarwah, Nov 11: Fed up of consistent official apathy, residents of farflung Warwan tehsil in J&K’s Kishtwar district on Thursday voluntarily built a makeshift bridge over the Marsudhar stream.
Locals told Greater Kashmir that a human population of several thousands spread across seven Panchayats in the area had been left high and dry after a 25-year-old wooden bridge across the stream, a tributary of the mighty Chenab river was damaged by the rising waters in June this summer with the recent rains and snow only crushing the wooden logs further and cutting off the locals from Tehsil headquarters located at Aafti. Population of Warwan Tehsil was over 8,000 as per the 2011 Census which is now estimated to have touched 11,000.
While the bridge collapse cut off four Panchayats of Warwan forcing the locals to take an 18 km detour to the Tehsil headquarters, the residents of the other four Panchayats-mostly from the Below Poverty Line-had to suffer likewise at the time of collecting ration from the depot located across Marsudhar.
“Neither the residents of panchayats Sukhnai, Basmina and Afti could reach Choidraman for collecting ration nor the residents of Inshan, Mulwarwan and Margi could go to tehsil headquarter and other offices at Afti,” a local said.
An official told Greater Kashmir that 93 % of the households in Warwan live below the poverty line.
Sarpanch Azad Nabi Lone from Choidraman Panchayat, the largest of the seven Panchayats of Warwan tehsil told Greater Kashmir that the Revenue Department and district administration were informed about the damaged bridge in June itself.
“After making repeated requests and later also a written representation to the District Development Commissioner, he came to inspect it, and promised to sanction the construction of a new bridge,” Lone recalled.
However, nothing happened beyond mere promises, with hundreds of villagers forced to risk their lives on a daily basis by crossing the stream with many preferring the detour, Lone said.
With harsh winters setting in and bridge construction out of sight, locals on Thursday took upon themselves and laid a makeshift bridge of uprooted trees over the stream to gain access to the Tehsil headquarters and more importantly the ration.
“During winter months from October to May after road gets closed, we are totally dependent on government ration depots and due to the bridge collapse, to reach just 50 meters on other side of the river at Choidraman to collect ration we had no other option but to travel 18 km to cross the river and collect the ration. In the given circumstances, we had no other option but to lay the uprooted trees to cross the river,” said Feroz Ahmed, a villager from Kuziz – Afti.
When contacted over the matter, District Development Commissioner Kishtwar, Ashok Kumar Sharma said the issue was “raised in the Block Development Councilors’ meeting today and it was decided that the bridge getting damaged due to natural calamity will be built under disaster management”.
“In the meantime, forest department has also been directed to repair the bridge at the earliest.”