Kishanganj/ Patna: In Teusa panchayat of Bihar’s Kishanganj district, a concrete bridge rises incongruously from the middle of a cultivated field, baffling villagers who had spent years demanding a crossing over a nearby river that floods their homes and crops every monsoon.
The bridge, located on the road connecting Dhumbatti and Adhesara villages, does not cross a river, stream or drain. Instead, agricultural land stretches beneath its 40-metre span, while the Ramzan river — the source of repeated flooding in the area — flows roughly 100 metres away.
For local residents, the structure has become a symbol of administrative failure rather than development. “Every year, floodwater from the Ramzan river destroys our fields and houses. We kept asking for a bridge over the river,” said Ismail, a farmer from Teusa panchayat. “Instead, they built this bridge in the field. It’s only good for drying clothes.”
The bridge was constructed around five years ago under the Chief Minister’s Rural Road Scheme, between 2020 and 2021, at a reported cost of Rs 6.70 crore. Approach roads were laid on both sides, but villagers say the project missed its most basic objective — providing safe passage during floods.
According to residents, the error lies in faulty planning and execution. “The engineers made a mistake. The river is there, but the bridge is here,” said Somdev Kumar, the landowner on whose field the structure stands. “Government money worth crores has been wasted. What can villagers do except complain?”
The area is low-lying, and officials acknowledge that water spreads into surrounding fields during the rainy season. However, critics argue that this does not justify a permanent bridge being built away from the river’s course.
District Magistrate Vishal Raj said the administration was aware of the issue and had begun looking into it. “There is a river nearby, and during the rainy season water does come into the fields,” he said. “Still, the matter has come to our notice. Information is being gathered and an investigation will be conducted.”
Raj added that villagers’ demand for a proper bridge over the Ramzan river would be examined. “Several development works have been carried out in recent years. This demand will be considered, and appropriate action will be taken in accordance with the rules,” he said.
For now, the bridge remains an oddity — a costly structure suspended over crops, emblematic of the gap between infrastructure planning on paper and realities on the ground in flood-prone rural Bihar.
