BRAND NEW STATE OF THE ART SUSPENSION BRIDGE, CHEKAGUDA, RAYAGADA, ODISHARayagada district, which was a part of undivided and in the KBK zone of Orissa, is dominated by tribal communities residing in the hilly and extremely difficult terrain which dominates the landscape of the district. Most of the habitations are located in the valleys of the mountainous sections of the Eastern ghats, which makes these parts one of the most inaccessible in the country. Lot has been done in previous years to provide connectivity to such areas, but still a lot remains to be done.
The district administration during the last outbreak of epidemic diarrhea encountered lot of problems in negotiating the numerous rivulets to reach villages with diarrhea cases.
THE DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION IDENTIFIED SUCH RIVULETS FOR RURAL CONNECTIVITY
At that point itself the idea of having low cost connectivity which can be provided in a shorter span of time was mooted. Fortunately just after that Govt of India came up with the scheme of Integrated Action Plan for the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) districts, in which a district level committee consisting if the Collector, Superintendent of Police and the DFO, is being provided funds to indentify and fill up critical developmental gaps in the naxal affected districts. The district committee wasted no time in finalizing the type of connectivity projects. Since the interior areas of the district are such that a large number of sparsely populated habitations are scattered on either sides of the rivulets with fast flowing water, it was neither feasible nor economical to plan a regular bridge or even a culvert in all locations which required connectivity. The need was that of something that would not be required to be constructed in the fast flowing waters and would also be economical and fastly built. After deliberating over a number of designs, the concept of prefabricated bridges was unanimously decided to be ideal for the disrict as it is economical and time saving.
The first place where such bridge as to be built was identified ata pplace on the Nagavalli reiver, connecting 9 GPs on the other side of the river to the district Headquarter. For this place a foot suspension bridge was planned. The biggest challenge however was to find an executing agency, as there is only one suspension bridge in the state of Orissa at Dhabaleshwar, in Cuttack district, which was built by the Works dept of Government of Odisha in 2004. There was no precedent of this kind of a bridge being built by the district administration in the state of Odisha, at least.
THE OLD BAMBOO BRIDGE BUILT BY THE VILLAGERS THEMSELVES
After two months of frantic search for support for execution, all that the district administration got was discouragement for what was certified by many as an over ambitious project of an unrealistic trio of officers. Luck showered it blessings by the way of a contact given Mr. Hegde, a CRPF officer posted in Rayagada. The contact was that of ‘Girish Bhardwaj’, an engineer who has built more than 100 suspension bridges in South India, particularly in his home state of Karnataka. Collector Rayagada spoke to Mr. Bhardwaj and explained about the plan of rural connectivity for the district. Collector Rayagada told that. he had very little hope about a positive response from Mr. Bharadwaj, given his great reputation and the fact that he had as many as 10 bridge projects in hand at that moment. One fine day SP Rayagada informed that Mr. Bharadwaj has expressed his willingness to come to Rayagada and that upon seeing the site and discussion with the district administration, he will decide about the project.
On arrival to Rayagada Mr. Girish Bharadwaj was shown the site and was explained about the vision behind this project. He on his part gave a presentation about the bridges which he had built, (the number nearing 100) and informed that he has dedicated his life for providing rural connectivity to rural areas through his organization, Bharat Grama Sethu Pratisthana. It was a marriage of visions and as Collector Rayagada puts it, ' it seemed like a divine intervention'.
The district administration also intended to build capacity within the district, so that many such projects in the future could be executed by the executants within the district and hence two young entrepreneurs from Rayagada, Sri. Ravi Prasad Dora and Sri. Narin Kumandan, were persuaded by the district administration, especially SP Rayagada to participate in the execution of the project. The enthusiasm and dedication shown by these two young people was to prove to be the most crucial factor in the successful completion of the project, other than the sharing of the technology and execution support by Sri. Girish Bharadwaj.
The work was assigned to the Police Housing corporation by the district administration, which worked out the project cost to 1.19 crore for the 152 meter long foot suspension bridge in the early 2011.Even though the work was entrusted to Orissa Police Housing Corporation, with the aim of expediting the work, it took more than 3 months to just float the tender and further 3 to 4 months to allot the work order. Only in the end of November the formalities could be completed and ground breaking for the work was done on 8th December 2011.
After the ground breaking the work of fabrication of the metal components of the bridge was also taken simultaneously. The skilled workers of Mr. Bharadwaj, who have an experience of more than 100 bridges with them, worked overtime to bring to the bridge to its completion within a period of three months. The pictographical depiction is given in the slide show below.
The vision of the district administration, as said earlier is to make many such bridges, at a low cost and in a shorter span of time. With the completion of this bridge, the district administration has not only got the necessary confidence and motivation, but also the necessary capacity to take up such work in the interior areas.
This project is not only a story of the execution of an engineering marvel, but also one in which the determination of the district administration was tested to its limit. This is a befitting redemption of the trust reposed by the government on its premier services and also an example to show that when the govt reposes its trust in its services and gives the necessary freedom and flexibility with the funds, it can work out wonders.
