Darjeeling has to depend on perilous bridges

DARJEELING: A long, narrow wooden platform suspended in the air by iron cables - that's the 'bridge' over Lodhoma Khola on which 20,000 people of four panchayats are dependent for their daily grind. Long queues of vehicles are seen waiting on either end, with one car at a time making the perilous journey.

The least movement on the 'Rajera bridge' rocks the platform violently. As the brittle wooden planks creak under the wheels, those inside have their hearts in their mouths because the platform seems capable of collapsing any time into the gorge below.

The bridge on Lodhoma Khola is just one of 35 such suspension bridges in Darjeeling district which connect hundreds of mountain villages isolated by ridges and ravines of the Himalayas. One of them collapsed in Bijanbari a few days ago, killing 32 people and injuring many. But people have no other option.

"The hanging bridge over Lodhoma Khola connects four gram panchayats - Rimbick, Lodhoma I and II and Sreekhola - with Darjeeling," said Anup Subba, a panchayat member at Lodhoma. Aloka Tamang, a resident of Rimbik, conceded, "An incident like Bijanbari may happen here too."

Villagers claimed that most of these hanging bridges had been built by the British to connect tea gardens with the main road. But since the formation of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council in the late-1980s, little care has been taken.

"The recent earthquake led to cracks in several bridges. But no one is bothered about repairs," alleged Kundan Sharma, a resident of Majhitar. A PWD officer admitted that little repair and renovation has been done over the past few decades, especially due to the political impasse in the Hills. But GJM leaders blame predecessor Subash Ghising. "He corrupted every organ of the administration. Funds were released for repair works every year but the work was never done."

In the blame game, it's the locals who are hanging between life & death.

TOI