Heavy vehicles banned on Victoria Bridge in Mandi

Tribune News Service

Mandi, October 1

The district administration has imposed a ban on the entry of heavy vehicles on the historic Victoria Bridge with immediate effect.

In a notification issued here today, District Magistrate Sandeep Kadam has imposed the ban on the movement of all goods carrier, passenger vehicles, including school vans, mini buses and tempo travelers. There was, however, no restriction on the movement of taxis, two-wheelers, three-wheelers, cars and jeeps on the bridge.

A wooden log and a few stones from a pillar of the bridge fell down recently. Later, the repair work was carried out by workers of the PWD.

The bridge was constructed on the Beas river in the town in 1877 AD by the Britishers during the reign of King Bijay Sen of the Mandi Estate.

The then British engineers gave a durability period of 100 years to the bridge which had ended in 1977.

In a letter to the district administration, Laxmender Singh, president, Mandi Bachao Sangharsh Morcha, had stated that it was unsafe to allow heavy vehicles on the bridge as the basement rocks of both the pillars had been disturbed due to the continuous flow of the river water for the past 138 years.

He said water had also eroded the rocks on the sides of the bridge. The bed level of the river had also gone down by five to seven meters due to flow of the water, he said.