Swan in spate, rains damage Una bridge

Our Correspondent

Una, August 17

Heavy rains on Friday night in and around Una resulted in the Swan river flowing in full spate. A bridge over a rivulet in Rampur village on the Una-Santoshgarh road in the outskirts of Una town was damaged in the wee hours of Saturday due to strong water currents.

One of the pillars in the middle of the bridge was damaged, causing the bridge slab to cave in. A portion of the stone-pitched embankment of the bridge has also been washed away. The beam connecting the pillars on the floor of the bridge has suffered extensive damage, rendering the entire bridge unsafe.

Consequently, the district administration immediately ordered the immediate closure of traffic on the bridge. Traffic has been diverted through village link roads, posing inconvenience to the local residents, besides causing traffic jams.

The Una depot of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation is located on this road and the buses now are forced to take a long route through link roads to reach the Una Bus stand. Water entering residential and commercial structures has been reported from many areas in the district, while damage to standing crops has also been reported. Meanwhile, Una MLA Satpal Singh Satti today charged that illegal mining near the Rampur bridge had resulted in the bridge collapse as rampant mining had lowered the riverbed exposing the pillars of bridges.