The report of under-construction steel arch bridge over the Kumey river on the Gangte-Tali road in Kra Daadi district collapsing is a massive setback to the effort to provide road connectivity to the people of Tali assembly constituency.
Till date Tali remains the only assembly constituency which does not have a proper road connection. This is the second time that a bridge on the same river has collapsed. A Bailey bridge on the same location over the Kumey River collapsed in September 2019 after only months of having been completed.
These kinds of repeated incidents of bridge collapse raises serious question marks over the efficiency of the PWD which is the implementing agency.
Chief Minister Pema Khandu has promised to provide road connection to Tali by March 2022. This latest incident is definitely a big setback to his efforts.
But CM has exhibited capability to keep his words and complete infrastructure projects on time. Therefore the people of Tali will be hoping that things still work out in the next one year. The state government should conduct criminal as well as departmental investigation into the incident of bridge collapse. The investigation should cover both the incidents. The people responsible for such major incidents should be strongly punished. Besides causing massive loss to the state exchequer, they are depriving people of Tali the much needed road connectivity which is a criminal offence.