Lack of road access: Villagers carry ailing elderly woman for 3 km in Chikkamagaluru

In a remote village of Chikkamagaluru’s Kalasa taluk, a group of villagers carried a 70-year-old ailing woman, Lakshmi, for 3 kilometers across a hanging bridge due to the absence of a proper road. The incident occurred in Nellibeedu village, under the Sanse Gram Panchayat limits.

Lakshmi had been bedridden due to illness, and with no direct road access to the main road, villagers stepped in to carry her. The villagers regularly use a suspension bridge over the Bhadra River to travel, as over 10 villages, including Nellibeedu, Ajjigadde, Aroli, Kattemane, and Konemane, lack proper road connectivity.

For decades, these villagers have depended on the hanging bridge, and it takes 3 kilometers of walking to reach the main road. While vehicles can pass through the riverbed during the summer, the monsoon season makes it impossible. Villagers have been requesting a proper bridge over the Bhadra River for the past seven decades, but no action has been taken so far, according to the locals.