Digboi: A tea garden female worker was injured critically after she fell off while crossing a temporary bamboo bridge over a fast-flowing rivulet here at Tokoni village under Panikhuwa Panchayat in Digboi in Tinsukia district.
The injured woman was identified as Sanjila Bawri (22) who was rescued from the river and immediately rushed to Digboi CHC in an unconscious state.
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According to local villagers, a temporary and fragile bamboo bridge connecting the two villages of Tokowni 1 and Tokowni 2 was erected by local residents themselves for their ease necessitated by too much delay in the construction of the concrete bridge by the concerned contractor.
“The construction work of the bridge has mysteriously come to a halt for the past several months while the sufferings and difficulties posed thereby were regularly updated to the contractor with photographs and videos by nearby villagers. But the indifferent attitude of the concerned monitoring agency and the contractor paved the way for the tragedy today,” lamented one of the youth leaders of Tokowni.
“The construction of the said bridge ought to have been accorded the top priority as more than two thousand people chiefly the garden works cross it daily,” said the relative of the injured woman.
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“When contacted, the contractor Brajanath Gogoi ironically told a youth leader not to evacuate the woman victim to a hospital as she would return to normalcy of her own,” informed an AATSA activist who immediately attended the accident site.
Meanwhile, during telephonic correspondence, Brajanath Gogoi, the contractor said that on repeated persuasion, he had already consented to a local youth to mend the fragile bamboo subway way which did not materialise somehow.
“I had started the work initially but due to the workers’ team being on leave and parliamentary election, the work could not be accelerated,” explained the contractor adding “Even I have not been given the work order against the said job except for project drawing and agreement letter by the PWD.”
“Now the bamboo bridge is mended immediately and concrete work will resume soon based on weather,” said Gogoi.
However, the patient was discharged from the hospital this evening with the doctor’s advice for rest.