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Kharo bridge reopened Kharo (Kinnaur), November 2 Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh was jubilant to see the task completed. At a simple inauguration ceremony, he commended the efforts of the Army. He was accompanied by his wife and local MP Pratibha Singh. The Commanding Officer of the 18 Engineers Regiment, Col M.K. Singhal, said notwithstanding tragedies, the Army was always at the service of the nation. A senior Army official said that a proposal was under consideration to raise a memorial near the bridge as a tribute to those who had died while constructing it. The Bridge was destroyed on June 27 this year following flash floods in the Sutlej. Later when it was under reconstruction, it collapsed on September 8, claiming the lives of 34 soldiers. Controversies regarding a possible technical fault came to the fore after the collapse of the bridge. This time, the 18-Engineers underwent a special training of two weeks at their headquarters in Zirakpur near Chandigarh. They constructed and then dismantled a Bailey bridge using two techniques three times during the training. The regiment adopted the triple-double reinforce (TDR) technique to reconstruct the bridge. Under this technique, a 200-feet-long bridge was assembled and set-up on the Sutlej in four days. The Army started transporting construction material required for the bridge on October 26. The space needed to assemble the new bridge was created by the General Reserve Engineering Force. The task of re-constructing the bridge was difficult and the resources used have been enormous in terms of men, material, vehicles and equipment.  |
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