Century-old bridge crying for attention

Harshraj Singh
Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, March 8

Even nine months after banning entry of heavy vehicles on dilapidated bridge over Buddha Nullah, the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation, is yet to finalise reconstruction of the bridge which is more than 10-decades-old.

The bridge is located on the Old GT Road near Chand Cinema and has been declared unsafe.

In May 2018, the bridge was completely closed. However, it was reopened for light vehicles after a few days.

An attempt was made to bring a proposal to reconstruct the bridge under the Smart City Mission but the suggestion was rejected. Moreover, Buddha Nullah Bridge was also declared unsafe reportedly by an engineer of Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College around eight years ago but the bridge has not been reconstructed to date.

In 2014, a former councillor had requested the MC to take necessary steps in order to avoid any mishap in the future on the bridge over Buddha Nullah.

Parminder Mehta, district vice-president, BJP said, “Public is suffering due to unplanned approach of the Municipal Corporation. We have raised the issue of dilapidated Buddha Nullah bridge many times. However, the civic body is yet to wake up from a deep slumber. The reconstruction work on Jagraon Bridge is going on at a snail’s pace.”

“The government should find an alternative as the MC is unable to address grievances of people. Roads and bridges work should be given to the Public Works Department,” he said.

Teerath Bansal, Superintending Engineer, MC said, “I will talk to the Mayor regarding reconstruction of the bridge. Earlier, the Mayor had recommended to bring a proposal for reconstructing this bridge under the Smart City Mission. However, the proposal was rejected by the authorities concerned.”