Gorakhpur villagers demand a bridge, stage a semi-nude protest

Gorakhpur, April 19 (ANI): Semi-nude villagers stood in waist deep water to demand construction of a bridge on a river passing through their hamlet on the outskirts of Gorakhpur town in Uttar Pradesh.

A fuming protester, Satyavant Pratap Singh yesterday said, "People from five adjoining districts are being affected by this bridge and it is becoming difficult to travel. But the biggest area of concern is development. There are 11 divisions in these five districts and they are facing a rise in crime because of the lack of the bridge. With a new bridge the crime in the area would come to an end."

People of the area want a new bridge over the river Sarayu , as the existing floating bridge is in a pitiable condition.

The floating bridge cannot take the weight of large vehicles, such as buses and other public transport, making life difficult for the people living in nearby villages.

The villagers have been asking the State government to build a new bridge over the river.

However, the villagers were forced to resort to this unusual method of protest due to the apathy of the government.

Men stripped off their shirts and stood in the waist deep water of the river and shouted slogans demanding the construction of a new bridge.

They were joined by women protesters, who said that they were getting deprived of basic amenities due to the absence of a bridge.

"Thousands of villagers are suffering everyday to cross the river. Even if we want to go to the hospital, it becomes very difficult. We, females cannot cross the river and it extremely difficult to go to the hospital along with the children. It is very essential that the bridge is constructed at the earliest," said Kalavati Devi.

The five districts that are connected through this floating bridge and are suffering daily due to the lack of transportation are Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Ambedkar Nagar, Sant Kabir Nagar and Faizabad.

People living in the regions have also written to Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Akhliesh Yadav, who gave them an assurance that a new bridge would be constructed but to no avail. (ANI)