Many hands make light work, goes the adage. And when a bridge that served as their only link to the outer world got washed away in the monsoon fury earlier this month, the residents of Brahmanakeppige of Shivamogga district in Karnataka did not wait for official help — they came together and built themselves a new bridge.
The hamlet in Tumari Gram Panchayat, in the backwaters of the Linganamakki reservoir now has a spanking new wooden bridge, which took less than a day to build.
After the reservoir was constructed across the Sharavati river near Linganamakki for power generation in 1962, as many as six panchayats in the Shivamogga district, including Tumari, became islands in its backwaters. At present, two barges provided by the Department of Ports and Inland Water Transportation are the only means of transportation for nearly 30,000 residents of these panchayats.
Only link
The president of the Tumari Gram Panchayat, Sathyanarayan G.T., told The Hindu that for 80 families of Brahmanakeppige, the only link to the outer world was a wooden bridge across the Kalkattu rivulet, a tributary of the Sharavati river.
When the bridge was washed away on August 9, Brahmanakeppige became an island within an island, he said.
The elected representatives and officials who visited the spot assured the villagers that another bridge would be constructed.
“The children of Brahmanakeppige commute on this bridge daily to attend school in Tumari. For medical needs and to purchase ration also, the people here are dependent on Tumari.
“But the people here realised that if the bridge work is to be executed by the government, it could take months as the proposal needs clearances at multiple levels. So, it was decided to rebuild it using shramadaan ,” said Manjunath, a resident.
Work commenced on August 17 at 7.30 a.m. Using locally available wooden logs and arecanut trees, the citizens completed the construction by 4.30 p.m. The workforce comprised of 75 people, including women. Lokanna, Manju and Lakshman, who are carpenters, supervised the construction.
The gram panchayat provided ₹15,000 to meet the expenses.
The 100-metre bridge is now open for pedestrians and two-wheelers.
