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Ambika Sharma
Tribune News Service
Solan, August 6
With four spans of the Balad bridge connecting the Barotiwala industrial area to Baddi facing severe damage after incessant rain in the last 48 hours, it has been declared un-safe and closed to vehicular traffic.
Traffic towards the Barotiwala industrial area has been diverted through Marrawala on National Highway-21A. The bridge has bent inwards in the middle following erosion of a sizeable portion of the structure.
Executive Engineer, Public Works Department, Sanjiv Agnihotri, said indiscriminate mining in the river had led the river to change its course. A gap of 5-6 metres between the upstream and downstream had been created. A huge volume of water damaged the structure.
He said a portion of the bridge was repaired last year too. He said repair work could only begin once the rain stopped and about Rs 30 lakh would be spent though the actual estimate would be drawn after its inspection.
Constructed in 1970s, this 180-m bridge has been facing an immense wear and tear in view of the movement of heavy trucks.
Agnihotri said they had sought Central funds of about Rs 8 crore for constructing a 200 m new bridge as this old bridge was unable to withstand the increasing influx of vehicles.
SDM, Nalagarh, Ashutosh Garg, who ordered the closure of the bridge for traffic, said since the bridge could collapse, it has been closed to vehicular traffic.
He said PWD officials, after inspecting the bridge, had declared it unsafe and it would take three weeks to undertake the repair work. Several bridges in this industrial belt of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh have been damaged owing to indiscriminate mining which has failed to be checked.
Mining to blame
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