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Ferozepur, June 16
Two bridges — a foot bridge and a road bridge — over the Rajasthan feeder canal between the Mallanwala head works and the Makhu area in Ferozepur collapsed today. The bridges used to connect more than 25 villages.
Sources in the drainage department said following a hailstorm last week, a large amount of water hyacinth had accumulated upstream. It choked the canal and subsequently the bridge collapsed as piers were situated close to each other which could not sustain the pressure build up by hyacinth.
After the foot bridge connecting Hashmatwala and Kimewala villages at the Rajasthan feeder (Turret Number 31755) collapsed, another road bridge situated ahead over the same feeder ( Turret number 37643) was also badly damaged. The villagers said they had informed the drainage officials about the accumulation of hyacinth but in vain.
When contacted, Sanjiv Gupta, XEN, Rajasthan feeder, said the process of cleaning the hyacinth was undertaken every year. However, the bridges were quite old and could not bear the pressure build up by the water hyacinth accumulated after the storm. “We had pressed JCB machines into service to clear the hyacinth but the quantity was so large that it did not help much,” he said.
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