Uncertainty persists over Kullu’s Bhootnath bridge restoration

Abhinav Vashisht

KULLU, JUNE 30

The masses have lost hope of restoration of Bhootnath bridge, the targets for whose completion have been postponed several times during the last three years. The bridge is lying defunct for the past over four years.

It was stated by the PWD officials in April that the bridge would be restored within two months. However, Kullu PWD Superintending Engineer Rajeev Sharma today said that fixing the bearings would be done soon. After that load capacity test would be conducted. The process to carry out load capacity examination and some other tests will take at least three months. Thus, the bridge is unlikely to be restored to traffic before the Dasehra festival.

Even earlier, the load capacity test was carried out by spending Rs 2.68 crore in October 2021 but it failed.

The 95-metre double lane bridge, constructed at a cost of Rs 10 crore, had developed cracks and inclined from the centre in November 2018 within five years of its inauguration. The administration suspended traffic on the bridge on January 6, 2019, in view of the safety of commuters.

The PWD has been postponing the target of completion of repairs and restoration of the bridge for traffic and there is no confirmation when it would be restored for traffic. The residents said that a new bridge could have been constructed in four years. They said that over Rs 3 crore had been spent on repairs and over Rs 2 crore was spent in erecting alternative Bailey bridge.

Earlier in January, Sunder Singh Thakur, Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) and Kullu Sadar MLA, had stated that the PWD authorities had said that the Bhootnath bridge would be restored for traffic by the end of March. In April, 2022, the company carrying out the repairs had assured to complete the restoration work by the end of August, 2022.

Initially, the tender for repair was awarded in December, 2019 and the repair work was targeted to be completed by May, 2020. In August, 2020, the PWD authorities had stated that the job would be completed in four months. In June, 2021 the PWD set the new target of August, 2021 but later the bridge failed various tests after retrofitting works in October 2021.

However, even after spending around Rs 3 crore on its repairs it is not clear when it would be restored for traffic.

Targets not being met

• The PWD has been postponing the target of completion of repairs and restoration of the bridge for traffic.
• Nearly Rs 3 crore has been spent on repairs.
• The bridge, constructed at a cost of Rs 10 crore, had developed cracks and inclined from the centre in November 2018 .
• The administration suspended traffic on the bridge on January 6, 2019. It is lying defunct since then.