Sitamarhi district, Block Sonbarsa in Bihar has around ten villages that are connected to the nearest town by one road. But to reach that road, the villagers have to cross five rivers, none of which have a bridge. These rivers are Doba, Baaki, Thalahee, Haldi and Jheem. Sonbarsa is at India-Nepal border and some of the villages that are connected by this road fall in Nepal.
Aniriya Devi, Suneel, Ram and Seeta Devi from Indarva village say, ‘This road is ten kilometers long. If a bridge was made, it would make things a lot easier for us.’
Jagdev from Hanumannagar says, ‘We all have to go to the town area in Sonbarsa for any kind of official government work or to go to the nearest market. It is okay during summers and winters but during monsoons, the whole road gets blocked when the water rises.’
The Block Development Officer (BDO) Shrikant Thakur said that ‘A meeting was held with all the panchayat representatives recently where we decided to provide boats for these monsoon months. A bridge is being constructed on the Jheem river and talks are on about the construction of more such bridges.’