People living in two villages at Deniyaya are forced to trek some five kilometres daily, because a bridge extending a mere 100 feet which colllapsed in 1969 is yet to be restored.
In the early days it took a stretch of just 100 feet over the bridge for people to travel from the village of Ihalagama to Miriswatte. Now the trek is five kilometres ever since the permanent bridge was destroyed by flood waters.
The people have repeatedly raised the matter with regional politicians and even the relevant authorities but nothing happened and so they set about doing something on their own.
Villagers have now constructed a make-shift bridge with arecanut tree trunks. “Construction was cheap, but safety is not 100 percent,” said Sujeewa Rupasinghe a villager. But nonetheless it had to be done, he added.
On Friday a group of villagers made the first crossing to the local temple to make religious offerings.
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