Vehicular movement along the East-West Highway has been affected after the support pillars of a bridge over the Shivaganga river in the Attariya-Chisapani road section started sinking in
Vehicular movement along the East-West Highway has been affected after the support pillars of a bridge over the Shivaganga river in the Attariya-Chisapani road section started sinking in. According to Khum Bahadur Bhandari, an engineer at the Mahendranagar-based Far-western Division Road Office (DRO), the 258 metre bridge has already sunk 1.2 metres. “After one of the support pillars started sinking, we have prohibited heavy vehicles from plying on the bridge from the first week of January,” he said, adding that they have created a diversion for heavy vehicles like passenger buses and trucks. Technicins, meanwhile, said the region can disconnected from the rest of the country if the bridge is not repaired immediately. Bhandari said brought the support beam of the bridge to its original position after they noticed the fault two years ago but it again started sinking from August last year. “We drilled 20 to 30 metres deep around the bridge after found active artesian holes in the ground,” he said, adding that the current problem could have been avoided if the construction company had dug 22 to 25 metres while laying the foundation of the bridge. The 22 big and small bridges from Chisapani to Attariya were built with technical and economic assistance from India in 1999 by Gammon India Pvt Ltd. Bhandari said that feasibility studies were being conducted whether to create a small road by shrinking the river or installing a truss bridge, removing the shrinking pillars. Meanwhile, DRO chief Sanatosh Kumar Karna said they have planning for an alternative solution to ensure safe vehicular movement during the rainy season.
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