Border village finally bridges gap with mainland India

A small border village in Punjab, surrounded by out-of-bounds Pakistani territory on three sides and the raging waters of the mighty Sutlej on the other side, has finally got a bridge that now connects its inhabitants to India for the first time after independence. 

A bridge to connect them to the Indian mainland had been a perpetual demand of the residents of Mohar Jamsher village in the Fazilka district of Punjab. Until now, the only mode of reaching the village had been a boat.

Talking to Deccan Herald,  Punjab Executive Engineer (Drainage) Gulshan Nagpal said: “The bridge has been completed recently and is now open for people to travel. Residents of Mohar Jamsher need not risk their lives taking the boat route to reach the mainland.”

All this while, this settlement of about 700 inhabitants had survived everyday odds. Many a time the residents threatened to boycott elections pressing for a bridge.

The “bridge-too-far” finally started turning into reality when the state government sanctioned Rs 8 crore for the project. The 400-metre-long bridge is yet to be inaugurated, but has been opened for public use.

Mohar Jamsher is the lone village in the country with this kind of peculiar topography. The village got its unique geographical location because India gave land from this area to Pakistan in exchange for land near Hussainiwala, where Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were martyred. India wanted to construct a memorial for them in Hussainiwala, which led to this swapping.

Until now, the lone mode of entering the village through the waterway was shut every night by the Border Security Force (BSF) manning the entry areas, forcing villagers to stay indoors. The BSF has its own boats, but does not ferry villagers in them. But it made exceptions during exigencies and rescue operations.

There are no roads leading to the village, said Kulwant Singh, the village headman. The village panchayat once pooled in some money and erected a temporary bridge, but it got washed away in flash floods. The situation in the village, which does not have even a dispensary, became alarming each year when journey by the boat had to be suspended, especially during the monsoon, because of raging waters in Sutlej.