Padma Shri awardee Girish Bharadwaj, the Bridge Man of India, passed away at 76, leaving behind a legacy of connecting Karnataka's remote villages with life-changing bridges.

Known for building low-cost and eco-friendly hanging bridges, 120 of his 140 hanging foot bridges connected people in rural areas. The rest served the interests of tourism.

Popularly known as ‘Bridge Man’ of India, he had constructed nearly 140 suspension foot bridges of varying spans and dimensions across rivers in several states in the country.