In a particular region in India, the local people train the roots of living trees into robust bridges across the streams. As the time passes, these bridges become stronger. These unique ‘living root bridges’ are found in

[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2015 Prelims]

(a) Meghalaya

(b) Himachal Pradesh

(c) Jharkhand

(d) Tamil Nadu

Answer: (a)        

Explanation:

• The living root bridges are one of Meghalaya’s most beautiful tangible heritage sites. These sites have recently been added to the tentative UNESCO world heritage site list.
• They are made of intertwined roots which are a sort of magic, but they aren’t imaginary. These bridges have been built for centuries by the indigenous people of the land (Khasis and the Jaintias).
• These are naturally built bridges mainly built by firstly planting two rubber trees of the Ficus elastica on either side of a river.
• These trees usually take about a decade to grow and generate secondary aerial roots.