134-year-old Matour bridge, link to Kangra valley, cries for attention

Our Correspondent

Kangra, December 3

A 134-year-old bridge at Matour on the outskirts of the town on Manooni Khad on the Pathankot-Mandi highway has outlived its life.

This bridge, constructed by the British government in 1883, is so narrow that only one bus can cross at a time.

PR Agnihotri, a retired XEN, PWD, and member, Indian Road Congress, said the government should learn a lesson from other incidents and make some alternative arrangements.

It is an arch bridge and such bridges have life span of 60 years and this bridge was designed for 40 tonne load. He said 134 years had passed and the traffic had increased and now the trucks with 70 tonne load crossed the bridge.

Thousands of heavy and light vehicles cross this bridge daily, besides a large number of two wheelers.

The bridge is the lifeline for the Kangra valley and sustains the traffic pressure of three national highways – Pathankot-Mandi, Hoshiarpur - Dharamsala and Shimla-Matour roads and needs an attention.

Joint adviser to the NHAI Satish Naag said an estimate of Rs 45 crore to replace this old bridge was submitted before the Government of India but it was scrapped because this bridge has come under four-lane project.

He said a Bailey bridge at Rs 1.5 crore was being constructed to relieve it of half of the traffic load. The old bridge would be used for the incoming traffic whereas the Bailey bridge would be meant for the outgoing traffic.

He said there were two proposals with the NHAI, one to bypass Matour and connect Icchi with NH 88 at Kangra bypass and second was to construct a fourlane bridge connecting Matour with Old Matour adjacent to Govt Degree College, Matour. He said under the second option, the land acquisition would be made on the right side of the road from the Pathankot side towards Jogindernagar in Old Matour.