Kurumbanmuzhy and Arayanjilimon to get lifeline bridges after years of waiting

At most times, the people of Arayanjilimon and Kurumbanmuzhy, two settlements on the forest fringes of Pathanamthitta, rely on the raised causeways across the Pampa to reach the outside world. But with every spell of heavy rain, these narrow tarmacs vanish beneath a sheet of rushing water, cutting off the villages and leaving residents marooned for days on end.

In a bid to end this recurring ordeal, authorities will soon begin work on two bridges connecting these locations . The Minister for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Development O.R. Kelu will inaugurate the projects on November 11. The works are expected to be completed within eight months.

The Kurumbanmuzhy bridge, estimated at ₹3.97 crore, has been entrusted to the Steel Industries Limited Kerala, while the ₹2.68 crore Arayanjilimon bridge will be built by the Kerala State Construction Corporation, officials said.

“All the required approvals from various departments for the construction of the bridges have been obtained. A great deal of effort had to be made to secure the necessary government clearances for the construction of the bridges,’‘ said Pramod Narayan, Ranni legislator.

Kurumbanmuzhy, hemmed in by the Sabarimala forests on three sides and the Pampa River on the fourth, is among the most vulnerable. Whenever the river swells, the three colonies in the village find themselves completely cut off, with residents struggling to travel for work, education or medical emergencies.

The 2018 floods worsened the situation. Heavy silt deposits drastically reduced the height difference between the causeway and the riverbed to barely four feet. As a result, the causeway now sinks quickly whenever the river rises, throwing life in these settlements into disarray.

Though promises of a bridge here have been made for years, the project faced inordinate delay due to approval bottlenecks. Meanwhile, local residents’ plea to clear the riverbed of debris left behind by Kerala State Electricity Board’s construction of the Perunthenaruvi dam too has gone unheard.