IMPHAL, March 8: The Transporters and Drivers Council has urged the State government to take action against the Border Road Organisation for its failure to properly maintain the Barak Bridge along the NH 37 which continues to snap every now and then.
This was said by the council’s president H Ranjit during a press conference held at the office of the council at MG Avenue today.
He said this is really unfortunate considering the fact that construction of the Barak Suspension Bridge was completed only on September 4, 2015.
He continued the bridge has again collapsed today which would be the fourth instance since its construction.
This is evidence of the BRO’s negligence during the construction of the bridge; however, the government has failed to take any action against the BRO, he claimed.
If the work was undertaken by the PWD or another engineering cell of the State government, the issue would have snowballed into a major issue, he added.
He said the issue was also deliberated upon during a joint meeting in September last year, when the present chief secretary was the additional chief secretary in his office chamber.
During the meeting which was also attended by BRO officials and other concerned officials including the CAF and PD principal secretary, PWD chief engineer and Transport secretary among others, the TDC had demanded the need to install a wheel guard along the bridge, following which one of the BRO officials had asked for two months time for the installation of the same.
During the meeting, the BRO had also assured to replace the steel runner along the bridge with wooden runners, he said.
He continued, however, the BRO has failed to initiate any of the works it had assured.
Due to the failure of the BRO to install wheel guards, trucks have slipped on the bridge time and again even though trucks are not allowed to carry more than 24 MT while crossing the bridge, he added.
Now, if the BRO again claim that the bridge has snapped due to overloading of trucks, he said they are ready to accept punishment of any tuck found overloaded
At the same time, if it is found to be because of the BRO’s negligence, then there is also no reason why action should not be taken against them, he added.
Further questioning why the State government is continuing to remain silent against the BRO, he said the union can proved that the Barak Bridge is a technical failure
He further pointed out the alignment of the bridge is not straight.
He added according to technical details of a suspension bridge, the capacity of a 24 MT bridge can be increase to 40 MT with more chords to stiffen the girder of the bridge.
He further added that it is clear that the BRO had asked the Transport department to notify that only trucks loaded below 24 MT can ply over the bridge.
He said the State Transport authority has no right to issue such gazette notification as the National Highways are totally under the National Highway Authority of India.
The bridge is about 360 feet long and has timber components, which has been neglected totally during the construction, he claimed.
The TDC president also charged that the BRO is tricking the State government and public. He further pointed out that the Makru Bridge which is older than the Barak Bridge is still standing without any problems.
He further warned that if in case the restriction on trucks loaded above 24 MT should be withdrawn at the earliest or else it will take legal actions.