For residents of the tiny village of Bendase in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, crossing the Ulhas River to get to the nearest railway station literally means putting their lives on the line. During monsoon months, when the river swallows the narrow, broken concrete slabs laid across a relatively shallower stretch, villagers who want to get to other side, to the Bhivpuri railway station, find themselves precariously balancing on one flimsy rope while clutching another.
