ITANAGAR, 12 Sep: Following a directive from the state government, a team comprising the PWD highway CE, MoRTH officials, an independent engineer from Voyant Solution Pvt Ltd and officials of the concessionaire, Sushee IVRCL Arunachal Highways Pvt Ltd, took stock of the collapsed under-construction bridge on the Nechipu-Hoj NH 13 (Sagalee-Seppa road) on Sunday.
The bridge had collapsed on Saturday. According to the concessionaire, the collapse occurred due to “distress in bearings.”
“The two-lane road and the bridge are still under construction period as per the contract agreement. It is located on a diversion, and therefore traffic was not opened over this bridge. As such, there is neither any disruption of traffic nor injury to anybody,” said PWD Highway CE S Sumnyan, adding that the concessionaire has assured to restore the damages and complete the bridge within two months.
Rebia visits bridge collapse site
Rajya Sabha member Nabam Rebia also on Sunday visited the site of the collapsed steel bridge
over the Shu river in Hoj, between Mepsoro and Geram villages in Papum Pare’s Toru circle.
Rebia interacted with the officials of Sushee IVRCL.
Speaking to the media, he said the new bridge will be ready by January next year.
“It seems the bridge collapsed due to a bearing issue. The matter has been apprised to the ministry of road, transport and highways (MoRTH). The company has assured that the new bridge will be ready soon. The dismantling process will take at least two months,” said Rebia.
He also said that “Sushee IVRCL cannot escape from the responsibility of the bridge collapse,” adding that a major tragedy was averted by banning movement of traffic and people on the bridge in advance.
Sushee IVRCL manager Srinivas said “the company had identified the problem at the earliest and had written to the Sagalee administration, seeking a prohibition order banning movement of people and vehicles.”
“We tried our best to correct the defect, but the bridge collapsed. This is a technical failure. The design was done by another company and it was approved by the government. Now we will work to construct a new bridge,” said Srinivas.
