DVC restricts vehicles at Maithon Dam
The Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has barred the entry of vehicles from 25 December to 1 January in order to restrict the crowd in the tourist spot of Maithon Dam, situated at the Bengal Jharkhand border.
In a ‘do-it-yourself’ resolve, a tribal boatman in Koraput district erected a makeshift bamboo bridge by mortgaging his sugarcane farm after his country boat had turned defunct to ferry people.
The exemplary initiative of the boatman Jayadev Bhatra, when the government agencies were found wanting to build a bridge over Indravati River, has accolades from several quarters as the tribal man mortgaged three-acre-stretch sugarcane field to generate Rs one lakh to build the bridge with voluntary labour by a section of like-minded villagers.
The river is a barrier that separates Koraput and Nabarangpur districts. People in Gumudi panchayat of Koraput district used to ferry Indravati by Bhatra’s dilapidated boat to travel to Kantasaraguda panchayat of Nabarangpur district. The ferrying was a risky proposition as the boat had turned ramshackle by wear and tear.
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The district administration had planned to build a bridge at Chirma Ghat. However the bridge could not be completed due to land disputes. As a result locals of Kantasaraguda village depended on Bhatra’s rickety boat to cross the turbulent river.
“I was moved by people’s plight. Therefore I had decided to build the bridge. I had no resources. I was forced to mortgage the sugarcane farm. I spent Rs one lakh. The makeshift bridge is now ready for people to travel to the other part of the river”, the boatman Bhatra narrated.
The Gumuda Gram Panchayat Sarpanch Sonaru Pujari praised the initiative of the boatman.
“The boatman Bhatra spent money from his pocket to build the temporary bridge. None has helped him monetarily. The government has conducted a survey. But the project has not begun. People are facing a lot of inconvenience in the river-locked village”, said Pujari.
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