Major Seeta Ashok Shelke of Madras Engineer Group (MEG) and Centre, Bengaluru, the woman Army engineer who was part of the 144-member team which built the Bailey bridge in Wayanad, is all praise for the support from the local residents and authorities.
Seeta, 35, who hails from Gadilgaon village, Ahmednagar in Maharashtra, told Onmanorama that their sole focus was to complete the bridge at the earliest. “There were so many challenges. We are trained to deal with contingencies. The help and support we got from local authorities and villagers were immense. The volunteers also helped us in every possible manner,” she said.
Seeta, who cleared SSB examination in her third attempt, always wanted to be a soldier and she even chose mechanical engineering for graduation as a path towards her Army career. Her engineering background had come handy in 2015 when she was part of the team deputed for assignment at Jammu-Srinagar National Highway No 1-A which was blocked following a major landslide.
In Wayanad, the entire team worked non-stop for 48 hours and the break hardly went beyond 3 minutes. ''We were witnessing the scale of damage and suffering and we could not have rested. Our Army men are already motivated and we would keep prodding and calling them thampi (brother),'' said Seeta.
The work would start as early as 6am in the morning. There weren't even toilets. The team endured all adverse conditions to keep the work going. ''We were provided with lights and food and we could work at night also. One of our officers Major Aneesh Mohan liaised with the local authorities and we were supported by our officer Commandant Brigadier Ajay Singh Thakur, senior officials, GoC for Kerala and Karnataka,'' she said.
Seeta said that her ultimate aim was to join the Army and when asked if she was the only woman member in the team she said, ''There is nothing like male or female. We are soldiers who are trained to deal with these situations. We never expect any privileges and this is something I have always wanted to do.''
Even as the main work on Bailey bridge was underway, they improvised to construct a footbridge. ''We did it around night in about 3 hours. The components used for Bailey bridge were used to improvise and construct the footbridge which provided an immediate access,'' said Major Aneesh Mohan, who hails from Alappuzha.
He said they didn't fix a timeline. ''Our focus is on delivering the work at the earliest. None of us retired to the room for rest or dress change. Our boys were working hard in that rain for 48 hours and we were with them. It was only yesterday that we caught some sleep,'' he said.
