A distraught civil engineering student, Ashitha from Hassan, has sent a message to Girish Bharadwaj in Sullia of Dakshina Kannada district that the hanging bridge built by him connecting Balegadde with Khandya in Chikkamagaluru district stands no more.
A native of Balegadde village, the student said that she was able to study engineering only because of the bridge. Like her, many rural students benefited from education because of such bridges built by Mr. Bharadwaj that connected remote areas to the mainland.
Washed away
Known for building 137 low cost and eco-friendly hanging bridges, mainly for rural connectivity across the country, Mr. Bharadwaj is now worried. At least nine of the hanging bridges in the State are either damaged or have been washed away in the floods. Of them, three are in Belagavi, four in Uttara Kannada, one each in Chikkamagaluru and Dakshina Kannada.
He has been receiving calls and messages from people in those areas to repair or rebuild them as they are their “lifeline”.
Karnataka , Mangaluru : 12/08/2019 : Girish Bharadwaj the builder of hanging bridges. PHOTO: RAVIPRASAD KAMILA
A case in point is the bridge mentioned by Ms. Ashitha, which has partially damaged.
“If there is no hanging bridge, people from Balegadde will have to travel about 12 km in the forest to reach Khandya and later Sangameshwarpete. This route is not safe because of threat by wild animals and elephant attack,” Mr. Bharadwaj told The Hindu here on Monday.
A portion of the longest bridge in the country he has built also got damaged. It was 290-m long and had been built across the Ghataprabha connecting Ghodageri with Avaragola in Hukkeri taluk, Belagavi district, he said. Huge trees and debris washed up by the rivers got stuck on the bridge, leading to heavy oscillation.
Frequency of vibration
“When the imposed frequency of vibration is equal to the natural frequency of vibration, any structure will collapse,” Mr. Bharadwaj, who has been awarded the Padma Shri, said.
He said the bridges had been built at least two metres above the highest flood level reported in those places during the last 50 years. Of the 137 bridges built by him, 120 provided rural connectivity and the remaining had been built for tourism. “Going by initial reports, I feel two bridges can be repaired. I will know the actual situation only after visiting each of them,” he said.
