BHADERWAH: A young girl is feared to have drowned after she fell while walking across a wooden bridge over Neeru river at Buttala Sartingal village under Bhaderwah police station limits here today .The deceased, Sheetal Bharti D/O Satish Kumar R/O Kotli Trown ,Doda , was going to college accompanied by her three friends which were rescued by local people and shifted to Sub-District Hospital Bhadarwah. However, the deceased were suffering from polio was washed away by the strong currents.The girls which were rescued identified as Sharika Devi d/o Om Parkash R/O Gigrota Pariyot Doda , Shakti Bharti d/o Satish Kumar R/O Kotli Trown and Anam d/o Ashiq Hussain R/O Butla village of Bhaderwah .The narrow wooden bridge, with no adequate safety, was constructed by the locals after the government turned down their appeal to construct a concrete bridge. The bridge has been regularly used by the locals, but on Saturday , the water in the river was overflowing due to heavy rains. The deceased girl and another girls were crossing the bridge over the Neeru river which connects Buttala village with Sartingal area of Bhaderwah , but when they reached before foot and took a few steps, girls slipped and fell into the water. The force of the river was such that one girl which were handicapped got washed away before anyone could even try to rescue her.As soon as the news got around, locals gathered various locations around the river, and began searching for the girl. They placed pipes and nets in the water in order to obstruct the flow of the river, so that the girl could be spotted if she floats across.Police officers and personnel have also arrived at the spot and the search for the girl is still on.However following the accident, locals of Buttala , Sartingal , Sherakhi , Basti , Monda and other areas staged a protest against the administration and blocked roads for many hours . “We have been demanding construction of bridge over Neeru near Butla since long to prevent such an accident,” said Irshad Ahmed Laway a protester.”We use this wooden temporary foot bridge which is made of logs and now it’s completely broken and causing a lot of problem. Some time our children’s bags drop in the water and they have to go back home, making them late for school. The boys don’t have much problem but the girls face problem crossing the bridge. If there is fog in the morning, then children’s face the risk of slipping. The logs on this bridge is also very weak,” Laway further informed and demanding a construction of bridge.Villagers are demanding for bridge at the spot for a long time. The condition worsens during monsoon.However, Additional District Development Commissioner Bhaderwah , Imam Din along with Tehsildar Masood Ahmed Rangraz also visited the spot and said that efforts were on to search the missing girl at the earliest and for that purpose some teams were constituted . He also assured that soon a bridge will be constructed on that place to avoid further any incident .
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