More than 100 students from Uttarakhand’s Bageshwar district still rely on a manually operated cart to cross the Ramganga River to reach schools in neighboring Pithoragarh, where the bridge destroyed in the 2018 floods has yet to be rebuilt despite repeated demands from residents.
Sunder Singh Bathyal, a social worker from Nachni district, said they walk about two kilometers from their villages to the river bank before their parents take them across the full river in a cart.
“The rickshaw has to be pulled manually, and no employee from the Public Works Department is deployed on site to operate it,” Pathial said, adding that two people have been killed and six others injured in rickshaw-related accidents over the past eight years, raising concerns about safety during the monsoon.
Villagers said they erect a temporary wooden bridge across the river during the winter, when the water level recedes, but are forced to rely on a cart during the monsoon.
The trolley was installed by the regional department for persons with disabilities in Bageshwar.
Dewan Singh Karki, a resident of Bhakuna village in Bageshwar district, said his two children study at GIC Nachni and travel across the river every day.
He said: “With the onset of the monsoon and the rise in water levels, we accompany them to the river bank to help them get on and off the vehicle, because they are afraid of traveling alone.”
Mohan Singh, from Khiti village in Bageshwar, whose daughter goes to Gyandeep Public School in Nachni, Pithoragarh, said using a rickshaw during the monsoon has become an annual ordeal for families.
“We risk the safety of our children every year,” he said. “The government should prioritize building the bridge, which was here before it was washed away by the 2018 floods.”
PWD officials said a detailed project report has been prepared for a 110-metre-long bridge at the site.
“The proposal is awaiting approval. Once it is approved, priority will be given to construction of the bridge,” said Krishna Biplia, engineer at the regional PWD department in Bageshwar.
