3 months on, Bhuntar’s Bailey bridge remains closed to heavy vehicles

Abhinav Vashisht

Kullu, May 4

The Bailey bridge at Bhuntar has been closed for the movement of heavy vehicles for over three months. Residents are facing difficulties as buses and other heavy vehicles stay off the bridge. Buses heading for Manikaran and Diyar have to travel an additional 10 km via Bajaura. People also have to walk about 2 km from Bhuntar to the other side of the bridge to catch the buses plying from Hathithan and Traihan Chowk.

REPAIRED MULTIPLE TIMES

• The Bailey bridge at Bhuntar has been closed for the movement of heavy vehicles for over three months
• The bridge has tilted slightly due to the movement of heavy vehicles beyond its capacity and as a precautionary measure the administration has currently halted the movement of heavy vehicles to avoid any untoward incident
• The approach road to the existing concrete bridge in Bhuntar was washed away in the 1995 floods and the Bailey bridge was constructed as a stop-gap arrangement.
• This temporary fix has been continuing so far and a huge amount has been spent on its repair and retrofitting multiple times

The abutment of the Bailey bridge was damaged during the monsoon-induced disaster last year, but it was repaired after 20 days.

According to the information, the bridge has now tilted slightly due to the movement of heavy vehicles beyond its capacity and as a precautionary measure the administration has halted the movement of heavy vehicles on it to avoid any untoward incident. However, the movement of light vehicles is allowed on the bridge.

The bridge has been damaged many times earlier as well and the Public Works Department (PWD) and the government have not been able to find a permanent solution to the problem.

The approach road to the existing concrete bridge in Bhuntar was washed away in the 1995 floods and the Bailey bridge was constructed as a stop-gap arrangement. This temporary fix has been continuing so far and a huge amount has been spent on its repair and retrofitting multiple times.

A double-lane paved bridge was proposed to be constructed to replace the Bailey bridge, but the matter has remained confined to papers. PWD Superintending Engineer Jitender Gupta said, "Now there was a plan to build an arch bridge which would be accomplished by next year and this would provide a permanent solution to the problem. The administration and the police had been requested to allow only the movement of light vehicles, but the condition of the bridge has deteriorated due to the movement of heavy dumpers."

The vehicles heading for Kullu from Bhuntar, Manikaran, Parla Bhuntar and Gadsa valley pass through this bridge and it witnesses a lot of traffic. The Bhuntar vegetable marketing yard is situated next to the bridge and farmers of the Parbati valley ferry their agricultural produce through it.

The bridge continues to witness frequent traffic jams and there seems to be no end in sight to the commuters' problems.

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