Villagers make ‘Jugaadu’ bridge to cross overflowing nullah with woman in labor
| Date :25-Aug-2022 |
Staff Reporter
A video refuting the tall claims of the State Government of providing facilities to rural areas has surfaced from a Gram Panchayat in Bhopal. After the excessive rainfall for two days in Madhya Pradesh, all access roads were closed. In Mainpura village of Berasia block of Bhopal, it became a challenge for a family to shift a pregnant woman suffering from labor pain to the hospital amid heavy rains. The nullah was in spate and there was no other way to go. In such a situation, villagers brought iron rods and pipes from their homes and made a temporary bridge in just 20-25 minutes. To cross the nullah, the woman was laid on a cot and was covered with a tarpaulin. To much respite mother and baby are now completely safe. The Gram Panchayats in Bhopal district are still yearning for all the basic facilities. Secretary, Sarpanch and responsible officers of Gram Panchayats are unable to get development work done here even after getting the budget. This video, which surfaced from Mainpura village of Khajuria Kalan, village panchayat of Berasia, has exposed the claims of development of the administration.
Villagers have been demanding from the Government and administration for 20 years to build roads, culverts, bridges here, but till now no construction work has been done. CEO of Berasia Zila Panchayat Dilip Jain said, “Roads, drains, bridges and other construction works have been done in the Gram Panchayats in the last years. If there is no bridge in Mainpura village of Gram Panchayat Khajuria Kalan, then we will do whatever is possible.”
My daughter-in-law’s life could have gone due to admin’s negligence: Radheshyam Gurjar, a resident of village Mainpura, told ‘The Hitavada’ that even after 75 years of Independence, there are no basic facilities in our village. Due to heavy rains on Sunday and Monday, the entire village became muddy due to the unpaved road. A nullah passing-by was overflowing, which does not even have a bridge to pass through. “My pregnant daughter-in-law Bhuri Devi had to be taken to the Nazirabad Health Centre for delivery, but we were scared because there was no bridge. She law was in labor,” he added. Seeing this, the people of the village hurriedly tied the pipes together and made a temporary bridge. After this, the woman was laid on a cot and was covered with tarpaulin to protect her from the rain. “Then everyone lifted the cot and made the daughter-in-law cross the nullah from the temporary bridge. After so much hard work, she could be taken to the hospital, only then her life was saved,” Gurjar said. Bridge made from pipe and rod of tubewell: The villagers also brought pipes and rods of tubewells from their homes. Together they made a temporary bridge by putting gates over the pipes in 20-25 minutes.
The bridge was ready, but it was a challenge to take the daughter-in-law to the hospital, about 5 km away amidst heavy rain. So, they put her on a cot. The cot was covered with tarpaulin to protect it from rain. About one-and-a-half km they reached the farm through a kuchha road. Here, Gurjar’s nephew Jagdish was standing with a tractor-trolley, through which she was taken to the Government hospital in Nazirabad.