Risking lives: On a piggyback and a prayer, children risk life to get to school in Himachal Pradesh’s Chamba; villagers plead for bridge | Shimla News
KULLU: Every time children of the remote Bharmour region in Himachal Pradesh’s Chamba district set out for school, they put their life and limb at risk. It’s the same every monsoon, as an overflowing rivulet threatens to wash them off the mountain.Often, the children have to turn back. On other days, they have to make it across the raging rivulet on an adult’s back. The return journey is as perilous.Some two dozen children from Banni and Bhadra villages in this tribal region, around 120km east of Dalhousie, take daily risks to reach their school in Mandho village.All it would take to make the children’s lives safer is to build a small bridge or a culvert, but villagers said their pleas have gone unheeded. Thousands of pilgrims also run this gauntlet to visit the famed Banni Mata temple. Even the devotees’ footfall hasn’t persuaded the administration to create safer alternatives.“When the water in the rivulet looks too dangerous to cross, we have two options-wait for someone to help us or return home,” said Shaurya Kumari, a Class XII student. Every day, locals keep a watch on the rivulet. If it starts overflowing, they get ready to carry children across on their backs. A video of villagers carrying students on their back is circulating on social media.“We have made several requests to the administration to build a bridge. It flows throughout the year but the water level becomes dangerously high during monsoon. If a bridge is built, it will solve our problems, especially for schoolchildren, who put their lives at risk every monsoon,” said Ranjeet Kumar, pradhan of Banni panchayat.Even devotees who visit Banni Mata temple are inconvenienced. “If it’s raining, there is no way one can cross the nullah. It’s PWD’s responsibility to build the bridge but each time we put forward our demand, officials look the other way,” said Pinki Devi, pradhan of nearby Tundah panchayat.Asked about the villagers’ plight, Chamba deputy commissioner Mukesh Rapswal assured a culvert would be built before next monsoon. “We have proposed to build a culvert so that the water can be channelled under the road.”
