Waiting for a bridge across, forever

None of the 119 school children in Bendase village of Maharashtra’s Raigad district will participate in their school’s Republic Day celebrations. Their parents will not let them take the risk of crossing the Ulhas river on a wire to reach their school in Bhivpuri village. “When we tell our teachers that we are from Bendase, they understand and agree to keep us out of the parade or skits planned for the occasion,” says Rajesh Kadu, 11.

For parents in this village, Republic Day is little more than an occasion to give their children a break from the risk they take every day to go to school. After all, their only connection to the outside world is a wire bridge across the river (see picture).

During their first ever Republic Day celebration, in 1950, they had requested for a foot over-bridge across the river. But this simple demand of theirs has been festering for 62 years now. Fed up with the lack of any response from the state, in 1970, the villagers pooled money and created their own makeshift ‘bridge’ by stretching two metal wires, one above the other, securing them with nuts and bolts to metal pillars on either bank of the river. Crossing the river means holding on for dear life to the wire above, and balancing your feet on the wire below.

“The wires have snapped four times since; we have to replace them and carry on,” says Balu Pundalik Thorave, 42, the sarpanch of Bendase. “People have lost their balance and fallen into the river. Two years ago, a woman, Parvatibai Kadu, died after she fell into the river.”

The alternative to this dangerous river crossing is trudging 7km to Posari village and taking a bus from there. “When someone is sick, all we can do is put the patient in a bullock cart or a tractor and take them to Posari, since no other vehicle can ply on the rutty road to Bendase,” says Ramchandra Kadu, who lost his right foot after a fall from the wire bridge five years ago. Not just men, but women, the elderly and little children are forced to use this bridge to get to work, school or hospital.

The village has other problems due to lack of connectivity. The only school in the village is up to class IV. Many kids, mostly girls, drop out of school after that. The staff at the local primary health centre refuse to come to the village to deliver immunisation and other services.

Ramchandra is angry with the media. “Because the media ignores our problems, leaders like Raigad guardian minister, Sunil Tatkare, presiding over the construction of many dams in the neighbourhood, gets away with doing nothing. We’ve never seen our MLA Suresh Lad in this area. His staff just accept our written pleas and says they will forward them.” 

When DNA spoke to Lad, he said, “When the government builds a bridge it has to benefit a large number of people. Only then does the project become viable. Under the circumstances, I can only advise people not to risk their lives by using the wire.”