Due to delay in bridge construction, children in Madhya Pradesh's Betul risk lives to reach school

Bhopal: The school children in Madhya Pradesh's Betul district are facing unimaginable hardships to reach their schools, all due to the civic body's negligence. The unwarranted delay in construction of a bridge over a dam has been wreaking havoc on the local citizens. This delay in construction of the bridge has left about 50 villages unconnected with the main town. 

According to a report, school-going students in the area have to put their lives at risk on a daily basis to reach their respective primary and higher secondary schools. The old bridge which was facilitating a way for the locals was reportedly destroyed by a private road construction company in order to make way for the construction of a new bridge. 

Even after four months of the old bridge being destroyed, there is not evidence of the construction of the new bridge in the area. Since there is no bridge on the river, the local kids have found a way to reach their school but it is dangerous and deadly, yet children risk their lives every day. These kids jump off the pillars of the stop dam to cross the river and then reach their school. 

Due to the monsoon, the water level on high-downpour days goes high, so the children have to wait for the flow of water to subside so that they can safely return home. These hardships have resulted in the residents unanimously asking the administration why the old bridge was destructed when it would take so much time to construct a new one. Akhilesh Srivastava, one of the villagers told news agency ANI that their situation was better earlier and they should not have destroyed the old bridge if the new one was not going to be made any time sooner.

He further added that the hardships are faced by the school kids as they have to walk for kilometres after getting down from the bus. Reportedly, even as advisories have been circulated, these kids continue to risk their lives for their right to education. 

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