Girish Bharadwaj, the architect of hanging foot bridges built across India, passed away at a private hospital in Sullia, Dakshina Kannada district, on Tuesday. Bharadwaj was 76 and is survived by two sons and a daughter. His wife had passed away before he did.
Bharadwaj built over 140 hanging foot bridges, mainly for rural connectivity, in different parts of the country. He was popularly known as the ‘Bridge Man of India’.
In 2017, The Union government had honoured him with the ‘Padma Shri’ award.
Known for building low-cost, eco-friendly hanging bridges, 120 of his 140 bridges provided connectivity to people in rural areas. The remaining bridges served the interests of tourism.
Girish Bharadwaj receiving the Padma Shri from former President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: File Photo
Born on May 12, 1950, Bharadwaj received his Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) degree from the University of Mysore in 1973.
Though he wanted to join a company or government service after graduation, his father advised against it. His father inspired him to use his technological knowledge to benefit farmers.
Bharadwaj took this advice seriously and, initially with his friend, started an agro service centre in 1973. Later, in 1975, he established his own company, Rational Engineering Industries, at Sullia, which is now called Ayas Shilpa. His initial work of repairing pump sets and gobar gas plants was directly connected to rural development.
However, he was later pulled into the construction of suspension bridges, which helped the people living on river banks keep connected even during the rainy season. His first bridge, which was a test of his innovative engineering skills, was built in his native village at Amboor in 1989. Later, he built over 140 suspension foot bridges of varying spans and dimensions. Through this, he has bridged gaps between places, people and hearts.
The 2017 Padma Shri citation read: “Behind his popularity there has been tremendous hard work, dedication, and determination to meet the challenges and risks posed by nature, courage to live in isolated forest spots, positive outlook in planning the designs, proven skills of teamwork, compassion towards helpless people blocked by floods, and love for humanity. Starting from the first bridge, every bridge was constructed by public demand to solve the non-connectivity between villages. It was a cost-effective enterprise with a service motive that brought laurels of love and the blessings of innocent rural people.
“His policy of a ‘win-win game’ has brought a smile on his face and also on the faces of the team of workers and the beneficiaries of the bridges at the end of each project. Bharadwaj’s success lies in his simplicity and practical equality with workers, which was evident as he sat, ate and slept in tented camps for months while the construction work of the bridges was going on. Most of such places were beyond civilian contact and unreachable through signals. There were the dangers of nature, from animals and even from men such as Maoists,” it said.
Bharadwaji had received a number of awards, including the Dr. Kota Shivarama Karantha Huttoora Prashasthi instituted by the Dr. Shivaram Karanth Huttoora Prashasthi Prathistana, Kota, Udupi district.
While speaking to presspersons at a programme organised by the Mangaluru Press Club in Mangaluru in December 2024, he stated that only a few engineering graduates were keen on learning his hanging bridge technique.
“No engineering student has come forward to toil hard on the ground to acquire the skill of laying cost-effective and sturdy hanging bridges that continue to be the lifeline for rural connectivity,” Bharadwaj had said.
Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Dakshina Kannada Member of Parliament Captain Brijesh Chowta, Minister for Health and Family Welfare U.T. Khader, and the Dakshina Kannada unit of the BJP condoled his death.
Published - July 07, 2026 10:06 am IST