Bailey bridge collapses in Dugadda, PWD orders inquiry

DEHRADUN: A group of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) workers led by former MLA Shailendra Singh Rawat on Friday gheraod the PWD office in Dugadda area against the collapse of a newly constructed bailey bridge at Lokmanipur. The bridge collapsed when a loaded truck carrying construction material was passing over it. The bridge was built by the Public Works Department (PWD) at a cost of almost Rs 50 lakh less than a year ago.
Local residents said that questions had been raised about the safety of the bridge and its construction quality soon after it was inaugurated in November last year.
However, district officials claimed that the capacity of the bridge was between 18 tonnes and 24 tonnes while the truck which was passing through weighed above 50 tonnes, which led to the collapse. Meanwhile, the PWD has initiated an inquiry to ascertain the main reason behind the collapse.
“The PWD officials have informed me that the bailey bridge was not built for such heavy load. The truck load was almost three times the capacity of the bridge. The PWD will hold an inquiry into the incident and action will be taken if anyone is found guilty,” district magistrate of Pauri, Chandrashekhar Bhatt told TOI.
According to Rajesh Chander, executive engineer PWD, Dugadda, “Chief engineer will visit the site on Friday and Saturday.” He said the bridge was currently under-construction. “The superstructure of the bridge was constructed by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers while substructure was built by the PWD. The bridge was assembled in April and only light vehicles were allowed to ply on it,” said Chander.
In financial year 2014-15, the Uttarakhand government had sanctioned Rs 96.15 lakh for building two 24 metres long bailey bridges at Lokmanipur and Gadriyakhal in Pauri district.