Malana residents pool resources to construct pathway to Jari

The residents of the historic Malana village in Parbati valley of this district have started constructing an alternative pathway to reach Jari. The road was damaged in July 31 flood.

About 250 villagers worked day and night for the last two days and erected two temporary footbridges and three small river crossings, which will shorten their approach on foot to Jari. With cold winds blowing, the villagers lit bonfires near the river and worked in turns. All this was done with their own resources. The residents said that they had to walk about 10 km at present to reach Jari but through this alternative route the distance would be reduced to about 5 km.

The Jari-Malana road had suffered extensive damage by a flood following a cloudburst resulting in water breach from the dam of Malana Hydel Project I on the night of July 31. The residents themselves constructed a temporary wooden footbridge over the Malana nullah within five days of the disaster in which the earlier footbridge was washed away.

The villagers had also built a helipad near the village but the chopper could not land due to the cover of high trees and bushes.

Two ropeway spans had been installed to ferry ration to the village but it was costing the villagers about Rs 600 for transporting about one quintal of cargo. The residents said that the machine span could do only about four rounds in an hour and a lot of ration is being accumulated at the spans for transporting ration for winters. Many people are getting ration at home after a week, they rued. The villagers had been urging the administration and the hydel project company to repair the road. The Malana panchayat vice-president Ramji Thakur said that after the passage of almost four months, the work of restoration of the road had been started.

The road connectivity to the village was improved by the road developed by Malana Hydel project about two and a half decades ago. However, now the residents are again facing difficulties and they themselves have started developing the alternative route. This move has made the life of the villagers easier.

Malana panchayat president Raju Ram said when their repeated requests went unheard, the residents decided that they will do this work themselves. He added that 2,800 residents of Malana will be benefitted from this alternative route and work of another bridge is being carried out on this pathway to make the journey safer.