Decades On, Bridge Remains Elusive; Students Forced Brave River Daily
Parvathipuram Manyam district collector N. Prabhakar Reddy said tenders had been floated three times after revising the project cost, but no agency came forward to execute the work
VISAKHAPATNAM: Hundreds of school and college students continue to wade through the Nagavali river every day to reach their educational institutions as a long-pending bridge between Poornapadu and Labbesu villages in Komarada mandal of Parvathipuram Manyam district remains incomplete more than three decades after it was proposed.
Around 10,000 people living on either side of the river depend on the crossing, forcing children to pass through waist-deep water, particularly during the monsoon.
The bridge was first proposed in 1996 after a boat carrying about 40 villagers capsized between Poornapadu and Labbesu, claiming 32 lives.
In 2006, then chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy sanctioned the project at an estimated cost of ₹3.5 crore, and the then Forest minister and district in-charge minister Satrucharla Vijayarama Raju laid the foundation stone. However, the project failed to take off.
Officials later revised the project cost to ₹5.35 crore, but construction remained stalled.
Parvathipuram Manyam district collector N. Prabhakar Reddy said tenders had been floated three times after revising the project cost, but no agency came forward to execute the work.
"We are submitting fresh proposals to the government. Once they are approved, fresh tenders will be invited," the collector said.
Former deputy chief minister Peedika Rajanna Dora said successive governments had promised to complete the bridge. He recalled that the Telugu Desam government had made similar assurances in 2014, while former deputy chief minister Pamula Pushpa Srivani initiated the project in 2019, but the work was halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said Kurupam MLA K. Jagadeeswari has now assured residents that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has promised to complete the bridge.
Local residents alleged that political differences and repeated delays in finalising tenders have kept the 200-metre bridge on paper, with every election bringing fresh promises but little progress. Meanwhile, children continue to risk their lives crossing the river every day.