70-year-old narrow bridge over Beas river at Dehra Gopipur needs replacement
Ravinder Sood
Palampur, July 22
A 70-year-old bridge over the Beas river at Dehra Gopipur on the Kangra-Chandigarh National Highway 503 is crying for the attention for a long time.
The bridge is well past its life and needs immediate replacement. It sees a high volume of traffic as the bridge links Kangra district to Delhi, Chandigarh besides parts of Punjab and Haryana. The narrow bridge has seen a manifold increase in traffic. The media has highlighted the issue several times, but to no avail.
This bridge was constructed in 1964 when Kangra district was part of Punjab. It was inaugurated by the then chief minister Partap Singh Kairon.
Though the state Public Works Department (PWD) is well versed with the situation, no effort had been made in the past 10 years to construct a new bridge as its replacement.
At present, the bridge is being used by thousands of commuters, tourists, pilgrims and locals to reach Dharamsala and other tourist destinations in Kangra, Chamba and Mandi districts. It is also used by lakhs of pilgrims to reach temples situated in Kangra district like Jwalamukhi, Baglamukhi, Brajeshwari and Chamunda Devi every year.
Several mishaps have occurred on the bridge in the past some months. The 8-ft high steel railing installed on both sides of the bridge also needs repair.
It was designed for vehicles carrying up to 10-tonne of load, but today trucks carrying 20 to 30 tonnes of steel, cement and other building material are using the bridge, damaging the structure. While there are deep potholes at many points, the entrance to the bridge from the Dehra Gopipur side is in a bad shape.
“Though the local MP has taken up the matter regarding a new bridge with Union Surface and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, the Centre has not cleared the project so far,” added senior officials of the HPPWD. Information gathered by The Tribune reveals that till date, there is no proposal to replace the bridge with the new one or to convert it into a double lane. “If the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) decides to make the Kangra-Mubarakpur-Amb stretch a four-lane road, only then a new bridge can be constructed,” said a senior officer of the NHAI. Despite the PWD’s effort to repair the bridge, its condition is deteriorating fast.
Residents said since Kamlesh Thakur, wife of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, had been elected MLA from Dehra recently, it was expected that the state government would take up the matter regarding the construction of a new bridge with the Centre.
