Reconstruction of century-old bridge over Buddha Nullah: After tenders failed eight times, Ludhiana MC getting project redesigned

Tribune News Service

Harshraj Singh

Ludhiana, May 11

After the tendering process for the reconstruction of a century-old bridge failed about eight times in the past year, the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, is now getting the bridge project redesigned by Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College (GNDEC).

The bridge over the Buddha Nullah, which is said to be over 100 years old, on old GT Road near Chand Cinema, here, was declared unsafe around 11 years ago. But, the civic body has failed to get it reconstructed till date.

The bridge and its safety walls are in a dilapidated condition for a long time. Bricks have broken from different points of the bridge that were closed for the movement of all kinds of vehicles, except two-wheelers, in January 2021 when a wall was constructed to stop the entry of cars, auto-rickshaws and other vehicles. Earlier in 2018, the entry of heavy vehicles was stopped on the bridge.

MC Superintending Engineer Teerath Bansal said the tenders for the reconstruction of the bridge were earlier floated eight times by the civic body but no firm showed interest to reconstruct the bridge as per the tender conditions.

He said questions were raised over its design. “GNDEC was later asked to redesign the bridge project. The new design has to be submitted by GNDEC next week,” he said.

Notably, the process to design the reconstruction of the bridge had begun in 2016 during the tenure of the then SAD-BJP government. The project could not be even started during the regime of the previous Congress government. In May 2021, the tenders for the reconstruction of the bridge at the estimated cost of Rs 5.84 crore were floated for the first time.

A resident of a nearby area said: “ Since the unsafe bridge was closed for cars and other vehicles more than a year ago, traffic was diverted through another nearby bridge. It was the responsibility of the civic body authorities to get the bridge reconstructed timely as commuters are facing inconvenience.”

Bridge declared unsafe 11 yrs ago

The bridge over the Buddha Nullah, which is said to be over 100 years old, on old GT Road near Chand Cinema, here, was declared unsafe around 11 years ago. But, the civic body has failed to get it reconstructed till date.

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