COIMBATORE: The people of a village in Gudalur in the Nilgiris stopped construction of an iron bridge (irumbu palam) and instead, they demanded a wider concrete bridge to facilitate vehicles to cross over a river to their tribal neighbourhood.

They claimed that an iron bridge may serve no purpose during emergencies, as vehicles cannot pass through it. Villagers were using an iron bridge to cross over a river to reach the Kozhikolli tribal village from Marapalam.

However, two years ago, it was washed away in heavy flooding. Even though the village is connected by a road, it gets flooded whenever water flow increases in the river. Following persistent demands by villagers, the Nelliyalam Municipality sanctioned Rs 42 lakh to construct a wider concrete bridge to cross over the river.

But, the forest department declined permission to build a concrete bridge and instead proposed an iron bridge for Rs 18 lakh. At the ‘bhoomi puja’ function organised on Sunday, the villagers gathered in large numbers in protest against the works. They also broke into an argument with the forest department staff over the issue.

On receiving information, the Devala police and Nelliyalam Municipality authorities arrived at the spot and held talks. The protesting villagers left the spot after officials assured to take their demand to the attention of the district administration authorities to arrive at a solution.