Bhadarwah,
Fed up of consistent official apathy, residents of farflung Warwan tehsil in J&K’s Kishtwar district on Thursday voluntarily built a makeshift bridge over the Marsudhar stream.
Locals told Greater Kashmir that a human population of several thousands spread across seven Panchayats in the area had been left high and dry after a 25-year-old wooden bridge across the stream, a tributary of the mighty Chenab river was damaged by the rising waters in June this summer with the recent rains and snow only crushing the wooden logs further and cutting off the locals from Tehsil headquarters located at Aafti.
Population of Warwan Tehsil was over 8,000 as per the 2011 Census which is now estimated to have touched 11,000.
While the bridge collapse cut off four Panchayats of Warwan forcing the locals to take an 18 km detour to the Tehsil headquarters, the residents of the other four Panchayats-mostly from the Below Poverty Line-had to suffer likewise at the time of collecting ration from the depot located across Marsudhar.—GK
