15 bridges washed away, 34 damaged in Himachal Pradesh floods

Subhash Rajta

Tribune News Shimla

Shimla, July 26

As many as 15 bridges have been washed away and 34 substantially damaged in flashfloods triggered by heavy rain over the past 15 days, snapping vehicular and pedestrian movement in several parts of the state. Along with the bridges, the number of damaged roads has gone past 1,000 with 566 yet to be restored to traffic.

Most of the bridges have been washed away in the Mandi and Kullu circles of the Public Works Department. While five bridges were washed away in the Mandi circle, the Kullu circle lost four bridges.

Four bridges have been washed away in upper Shimla and Kinnaur. “The loss of bridges has adversely affected the day-to-day life of people. The department is trying to repair the damaged bridges and provide an alternative where these have been washed away,” said a senior PWD official. “To begin with, we are trying to provide an alternative, a bailey bridge for example, wherever possible. We have already built one in Kotkhai. We are also setting up spans to ensure that at least the supply of essential commodities is restored,” the official said. The PWD has assessed the loss caused by the washing away of bridges at Rs 54.47 crore and due to damage to other bridges at Rs 41 crore. “These are preliminary estimates; we will know the actual cost when the DPRs are made for the new bridges,” the official said. Meanwhile, the department is struggling to restore roads to vehicular movement, especially district and link roads. On Wednesday, 566 roads still remained blocked, with the highest 363 in Shimla district. “The damage to roads has been the maximum in Shimla district. As these are interior roads, it has not caught much attention. Efforts are underway on a war footing to restore these roads to traffic,” said Surinder Pal Jagota, Chief Engineer, Shimla Zone.

Broken and swept away

• Footbridge, Sunni, Shimla
• Bailey bridge, Ramni, Kinnaur
• Bailey bridge, Shong Brua road, Kinnaur
• Causeway, Kotkhai-Dalsar-Hatli road, Shimla
• Steel truss bridge, Sada Patan Kotli road, Mandi
• Steel truss bridge, Panchvaktra temple, Mandi
• Suspension bridge, Pandoh, Mandi
• Footbridge, Thalot, Mandi
• Aerial ropeway, Badanoo, Mandi
• Culvert, Jiun Bhaleri, Kanda Pattan road, Mandi
• Steel truss bridge, Banjar-Aut-Luhri road, Kullu
• Aerial ropeway bridge, Lahaul and Spiti
• Aerial ropeway footbridge, Kullu
• Aerial ropeway footbridge, Manali
• Bridge, Bhogrwan Thakurwara road, Kangra