Belthangady: Though successive governments and elected representatives give a rosy picture of development there are many villages in the state which lack basic amenities and showcase the bygone era. One such villages is Kumeru Anadka coming under Maravanthige gram panchayath, where the entire village gets marooned during monsoon and villagers have no option but to simply wait for the situation return to normal.

                                               Temporary areca log bridge built to cross over the rivulet

There are around 10 families which live in a ‘part time island’ during every rainy season and if one thinks of the children who go to schools, colleges and the patients in such situation it’s hard to imagine the difficulty one would encounter. Over the years the villagers themselves have made some temporary arrangements to cross over the rivulet by constructing ‘Areca Log Bridge’ and to tide over the crisis. When rainfall increases the temporary bridge gets submerged and at times washed away due to flash floods. Most villagers belonging to poor families set aside their work and help little children cross over the rivulet and carry patients putting ‘all lives’ involved in danger .

Many villagers living in Gurigadde, Mittabettu, Kumeru near Didupe experience nightmare and those concerned with the administration of the area do not want to visit those villages for various reasons.

Beautiful Anadka falls deprived of tourists

The falls near Didupe which is located in lush greenery attracts many tourists and most of them do not feel like leaving the falls area. As usual most waterfalls draw tourists during monsoon but none are found here, simply because they cannot cross Anadka River to reach the falls. This situation exposes the gravity of the problem the ten families living near the river face.

Reacting to the problems, former GP president Dinesh Gowda, said “Many requests were made in the past for a small bridge across the Anadka river but none from the district or taluk administration came forward with a proposal to construct a small bridge in the area.”

Villagers linger with no options available but yet firmly believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel!