Overcoming local problem on their own

Tired of waiting for the authorities to construct a bridge, the problem has been tackled by volunteer students in a locality of Thakurgaon district. Students belonging to various schools and colleges of Lauthuti village teamed together to construct a 50-meter bridge to connect the two halves separated by a canal. This is people power at its best, where different sections of society come together to solve local problems. Now that it is functional, hundreds of people residing on the southern have been saved the trouble of making a detour of five kilometres to go to the northern where the school and markets are located.  
Whilst we applaud the efforts of students and local community people for their self-help effort the question that looms large is precisely why local government officials have left this problem unattended. Is this an isolated incident in one locality of one district, or is it symptomatic of the problems associated with lack of planning and allocation on a much larger scale?
Whatever may be the case, it certainly does not speak well of the state of governance and implementation of development activities at the local level. We know for sure the area highlighted here falls under the purview of the local MP and it certainly is a sad day for people of the locality when their prayers go unanswered despite the need for such infrastructure. Accountability and good governance go hand in hand and that is where the country is sorely lacking.