Residents of Tral complained that they were facing immense difficulties for want of a bridge in the area.
“I have been missing the classes quite often especially when it rains. Because whenever it rains the water level increases in the nearby stream thus restricting our movement to the school,” says Shahbaz Najar, a student of Government Primary School in Deedarpora Tral.
He said whenever there is rain it submerges the a wooden bridge that has been made by the villagers rendering the students unable to reach their schools.
Locals said there are four schools in Gutengoo-Deedarpora in Lam village of Tral township of Pulwama district. The students of these schools have to cross this stream.
The villagers said the government must provide a concrete bridge in place of the makeshift wooden bridge to solve their problem. “Till a concrete motorable bridge is made, the authorities should provide a reliable footbridge so that the villagers and the students don’t suffer,” they said.
Residents complained that in absence of the reliable bridge, the patients, particularly the pregnant women in the villages are exposed to risk.
The Lam village is just 13 km from sub-district headquarters. “During floods, in 2014, we left our homes to save ourselves as we took another route, which is very difficult, but could not evacuate our cattle as we had no bridge to cross,” Showkat Ahmad a local said.
He grieved that even pulse polio team recently struggled to cross the stream and reach Deedarpora although few locals later helped the team to reach here.
“Without footbridge we are facing plenty of problems mostly in the wet season. We are being forced to cross the gushing nallah with bags, ration and other items on our heads which could sometimes prove fatal,” said a local woman Gulshana.
Students on the other hand lamented that they often miss class work owing to lack of footbridge and road access in their area.
“We often skip schools because there is no footbridge. Our teachers also fail to come in case there is increase in the water level. Government is forcing us to cross the gushing stream, with bags on our head,” said Asifa a student.
When contacted executive engineer at Road and Buildings department Pulwama Sajad Naquib said the department in this regard has already issued tenders and the construction work will start very soon.