Farmers Movement Archive

25 UP' Bijnor villages finally get pontoon bridge over Ganga

BIJNORE: As a child, Sunita Devi, now 45, saw her parents hopping on to a rickety boat to cross the Ganga to work in fields on the other side, every day. Years later, she too joined them. For generations, a stretch of the mighty river in Bijnor separated thousands of people from their work, relatives and friends. And hundreds drowned while crossing it in the last few decades. The “tipping point”, the villagers say, came in August of 2018, when ten women drowned near Daivalgarh in yet another boat capsize. It was then that people of 25 villages started holding protests demanding a bridge. “But the sympathies generated by the drowning deaths soon vanished and officials stopped paying attention to our plight,” Devi said. In July last year, the villagers organised a ‘mahapanchayat’ and looked towards the holy river for solution. Hundreds of them, after bowing before it, entered into its water to launch a unique protest which finally brought attention to their cause. For the next 32 days, hundreds of men, women and children took turns to stand neck-deep in the swollen river at Daibalgarh village, close to where the women had drowned. The agitation ended only after the local administration sent a proposal to the state government for the sanction. The proposal got the government nod in December last year. On Friday, the bridge was opened to the public after a brief but colourful function. Villagers, even elders and women, ran on it to reach the other side. Holding back her tears, Devi said, “Now no one will die. We are grateful to the administration and to the government. The bridge will bring people of both sides closer. Scores of people go to farming to the other side daily. Now they will be safe.” Executive engineer of PWD, Sunil Sagar, told TOI that the 330-metre long pontoon bridge cost over Rs 2 crore. Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rajendra Singh, one of the locals who led the protests, said, “It is the victory of unity of the villagers. Our years old demand has been fulfilled. Villagers will be able to ferry their crop in tractor-trolley across the river. The bridge will connect this area with Muzaffarnagar district as well. Villagers used to cover a distance of just 80km to reach Muzaffarnagar. Now the distance will be reduced to 40km.”

The Times of India

2020-12-05

Meerut