Asifabad: Bridge remains a long distant dream for villagers of Dimda

Having a population of about 2,000, the village is often isolated by the backwaters of Pranahita river and a flooding stream whenever heavy rains occur.

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: Delay in construction of a high-level bridge across a stream is causing inconvenience to residents of Dimda, a remote village in Chintalamanepalli mandal.

Having a population of about 2,000, the village is often isolated by the backwaters of Pranahita river and a flooding stream whenever heavy rains occur. Residents have been disconnected from the mainstream with the stream getting swelled owing to incessant downpours and backwaters of the river inundating surroundings of the village for over a week. They are facing hardships to live in the village.

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Vagade Shankar, a resident, said that due to lack of a bridge, villagers were being forced to swim across the stream to reach the mandal centre and Kaghaznagar town for various needs including medical emergencies and buying essential commodities, risking their lives. A 24-year-old student Doke Ramakrishna of the village was swept away while crossing the stream a few years ago, he said.

Considering the plight of the residents, a high-level bridge was sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs 3 crore in 2023. The then forest minister A Indrakaran Reddy had laid the foundation stone to the facility in September. The forest department accorded in principle permission to construct the bridge in August. It diverted 0.416 hectares of forest land for the construction of the bridge under Prime Minister Grameena Sadak Yojana.

However, the work was not commenced following a query raised by the union Environment and Forest ministry. “The Panchayat Raj department which was supervising the work did not respond to the query till date,” a forest official said on condition of anonymity.

Consequently, the bridge remains a long-distant dream for the villagers, who request officials concerned to take steps to begin the work. “The delay in creation of the facility is irking the villagers. It is nothing short of a hell to live in a village cut off from the rest of the world for a week,” Doke Ramanna, a farmer from the village opined.

Officials of the Panchayat Raj department were not available for comment.