2 men in Odisha set examples for others; construct river bridges with own savings

By A. Iswar Rao

Rayagada, Jan. 15 : Two individuals in Odisha – Gangadhar Rout and Shyamadhar Majhi – have set examples for others by building an equal number of bridges across rivers in their respective districts to provide relief to fellow villagers from age-old miseries.

While Gangadhar hails from Keonjhar district on the northern flanks of Odisha, Shyamadhar lives in a hamlet in the southern Rayagada district.

For years, the lack of a bridge across Salandi river near Kanpur village under Anandpur block rankled Gangadhar who is a retired livestock inspector. While Salandi is the lifeline for many farmers living on its well-irrigated banks in Keonjhar, the lack of a bridge made the residents of Kanpur village to face daily hassles in getting to the other side of the river.

He spent more than Rs 25 lakh from his retirement kitty to build a 250-ft long bridge to connect his village to the outside world. He has also constructed an approach road connecting the bridge from his own savings.

“I was quite worried to see the plight of the people, especially the farmers, who faced a lot of difficulty to get to the other side of the river. I decided to spend my entire savings to build a bridge so that they could get some relief. My family backed my decision. Now the bridge connects our village with other gram panchayats,” said Rout.

Residents of Kanpur hailed Gangadhar as a hero of the village.

“Gangadhar is indeed a role model for everyone in our district. All of us are grateful and indebted to him,” said Chaitanya Mohapatra, a villager.

In a similar instance, Shyamadhar Majhi of Godibali village in Rayagada district took the responsibility of building a bridge over the river Kadrukot allegedly after repeated demands by the villagers for the same fell in the deaf years of the local administration.

Majhi, who is a low-salaried Gram Rozgar Sevak, has so far spent around Rs 3 lakh from his own pocket to construct the bridge where works are still on. The residents of Godibali have put up wooden logs on the concrete poles of the half-built bridge to cross the river.

The villagers are profuse in their gratitude towards Majhi. However, they have put forward a demand for an approach road before the district administration.

Rayagada Sub-Collector Pratap Chandra Pradhan said the district administration is aware of the problems faced by the villagers and was taking necessary steps for the construction of an approach road.