[ Bengia Ajum ]
YINGKIONG, 21 Jun: The strategically important Byorung Bridge over Siang river here on the Yingkiong-Moying road in Upper Siang district has been rehabilitated by the border roads organisation (BRO).
Also popularly known as Gandhi Bridge, the Byorung Bridge remained closed from 22 May onwards for maintenance. The repairing had to be carried out after two bearings of the bridge on the Yingkiong side got damaged, barely four years after its inauguration. This cable suspension bridge connects strategically important border areas like Tuting with the rest of the country.
The border road task force (BRTF) 761 carried out the repair work.
On Wednesday, health minister Alo Libang, who is also local MLA visited the bridge and interacted with senior officials of BRO. Libang appreciated the efforts of BRO, Project Brahmank for timely completion of the rehabilitation of the bridge.
Commander A K Gupta of 761 BRTF, Yingkiong briefed about the repairing work carried out by his team. He also requested the district administration not to allow
vehicles above 18 tonne to use the bridge. As per the original design and load classification, the bridge is only for the use of vehicles upto 18 tonne.
The BRTF 761 based here took over the Byorung Bridge from state PWD in 2021. The 18 tonne bridge was funded by DoNER under the NLCPR scheme and inaugurated in January 2019 by deputy chief minister Chowna Mein. The bearing problem was first detected by BRTF in 2022.
