3 min readBengaluruJul 8, 2026 12:20 AM IST
First published on: Jul 8, 2026 at 12:20 AM IST
Padma Shri awardee Girish Bharadwaj — popularly known as the ‘Bridge Man of India’ for constructing hundreds of low-cost hanging bridges, connecting the remotest parts of India — passed away on Tuesday in Karnataka. He was 76 years old.
Bharadwaj was admitted to a private hospital in Sullia in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district due to a cardiac condition, after which he died Tuesday.
A graduate in mechanical engineering, Bharadwaj chose to stay in rural parts of the country. His work brought hundreds of isolated villages to the mainstream — connecting the rest of the nation with places where people otherwise had no way to cross rivers or canals except by swimming or boats. Bharadwaj devised his own solutions to suit the remote terrain — he built suspension footbridges which offered a simple and practical causeway for many isolated communities.
After his low-cost small bridges became a hit in rural areas, the government was eager to utilise Bharadwaj’s design to construct hanging bridges.
A decades-long journey
Upon completing his mechanical engineering degree in 1973, Bharadwaj set up a workshop in Sullia but started engaging beyond regular metal works. The Dakshina Kannada district usually receives heavy rainfall due to its geography. A young Girish then saw the plight of the villagers who would be deprived of all modes of road transportation during rain, instead relying on making life-threatening attempts to walk across swollen rivers. Facing issues with connectivity, some children also had to drop out of schools.
Bharadwaj decided to find a cost-efficient solution for this.
In 1989, he built his first hanging footbridge over the Payaswini River at Aramburu in Sullia — a modest, budget-friendly structure that would go on to define his life’s work.
That single bridge marked only the start; over the following decades, Bharadwaj constructed more than 300 such bridges across Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, gaining him the reputation of the ‘Bridge Man of India’.
As Bharadwaj continued his work, the Government of India honoured him with the country’s fourth-highest civilian award, the Padma Shri, in 2017. His other achievements include honorary doctorates conferred upon him by Institutions such as the University of Mysuru; and a biopic titled ‘Sethu Bandhu’ on his life’s work announced by filmmaker Santhosh Kodenkeri.
Bharadwaj was admitted to a private hospital in Sullia in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district due to a cardiac condition, after which he died Tuesday. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) 
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