Social News XYZ     

In the two Telugu states, bridges in urgent need of professional care

In the two Telugu states, bridges in urgent need of professional care

By Mohammed Shafeeq

Hyderabad, Nov 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) The tragedy in Gujarat's Morbi town has brought into focus the condition of bridges, especially the old ones, in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

 

In view of the fears triggered by the Morbi bridge collapse, decades-old bridges on the rivers in both the Telugu states require immediate attention of the authorities.

Authorities in both the states say that surveys are conducted from time to time to ensure regular maintenance of the bridges. As a follow-up of these surveys, necessary repairs are also carried out.

Experts, however, point out that the recent incident in Gujarat has highlighted the need for further improving the monitoring mechanism to rule out any complacency.

On October 19, a 20-year-old bridge collapsed in Telangana's Komaram Bheem Asifabad district. Following incessant rains, the bridge across the Peddavagu stream collapsed. Timely action by the district administration averted a tragedy. It had stopped the movement of vehicles on the bridge after one of its pillars sank.

The Andhavelli bridge collapse badly affected transport facilities between Kagaznagar town and about 40 villages. Students from several villages are now forced to use country boats to cross the stream to reach Kagaznagar.

A portion of the bridge had started showing signs of collapse two years ago, indicating poor quality of work.

Officials had recently called for tenders for replacing two slabs and building a new pillar, drawing criticism from various quarters for doing so without constituting an expert committee as per the established norms.

The bridge was built in 2002 by the Panchayati Raj Department with World Bank funds. The officials concerned did not pay attention when quality was being compromised. The pits were not dug deep enough for building the pillars resulting in their caving in.

More than the five-decades-old bridge across Godavari river in the temple town of Bhadrachalam in Telangana's Bhadradri Kothagudem is also in need of immediate attention.

The bridge, which facilitates entry into the temple town, is in a state of ruin. The narrow bridge is unable to handle large volumes of traffic and the number of accidents is also on rise.

It is the only road link from Hyderabad to enter Bhadrachalam connecting neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

In July, the authorities had shut the bridge for traffic for a few days when the river was flowing above danger mark

This was the second time in the history of this bridge that it has been closed due to floods. It was last closed for traffic in 1986.

The bridge was constructed in 1964 after a country boat ferrying several devotees to the temple town had sunk, killing many.

It is the crucial road link on national highway 30 and also serves as a vital link between Bhadrachalam and a vast tribal area.

The bridge is witnessing frequent traffic snarls. The volume of traffic on it increases manifold during festivals when thousands of devotees cross it to visit the temple town.

The bridge users say it is in a crumbling state and officials failed to carry out repairs to maintain it in good condition.

Though construction of a new parallel bridge started in 2015, the work is yet to be completed. The works, estimated to cost Rs.65 crore, were entrusted to a private agency. The work was originally scheduled to be completed in two years.

The new bridge missed many deadlines due to recurrent floods and work getting hampered due to rocky terrain in the river. The Covid-19 pandemic also resulted in the delay.

The Gujarat tragedy also brought into focus a suspension bridge and an upcoming cable-stayed bridge in Mulugu and Karimnagar districts respectively.

Thousands of tourists visit Laknavaram in Mulugu district not only to enjoy scenic beauty but to also have the experience of walking over the two suspension bridges across the lake.

However, officials dispelled fears about the safety of 180-metre long bridges. One bridge was constructed in 2008 and the other in 2018.

They claim that both the bridges are completely safe. They have been constructed with BIS-standard ropes and cables imported from Korea and steel from Visakhapatnam.

As a large number of visitors use the bridges every day, the agency which maintains them checks nuts and bolts at regular intervals.

A cable-stayed bridge is being built across the Manair river in Karimnagar district.

The state government had taken up construction at a cost of Rs 187 crore in 2018. Tata Projects and Gulemark, a Turkey-based company, are building the bridge with 680-metre length four-lane roads and footpaths for pedestrians.

In 2020, a cable-stayed bridge was opened in Hyderabad. Billed as the world's longest span concrete deck extradosed cable-stayed bridge, it has come up on a lake in the information technology cluster and is a big draw for visitors especially during evening hours.

Termed as an engineering marvel, the 233.85 metre long bridge has been built at a cost of Rs 184 crore.

It was designed and built by construction major L&T under the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode.

In March this year, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) announced that it will audit the condition of old bridges in the city. It will conduct detailed inspections to check the structural stability and carry out load capacity tests and prepare a report

In Andhra Pradesh, three iconic bridges across Godavari river at Rajahmundry are the centre of attraction.

The road-cum-rail bridge was closed last month by authorities for a week to carry out urgent repair works.

The four-km long bridge is the only road link between Rajahmundry and Kovvur.

The Roads & Buildings Department carried out the works like filling up potholes and replacing the fallen railing.

The opposition parties, however, called the repair a farce and said the bridge was closed by the government to stop Amaravati farmers from using it to enter Rajahmundry as part of their Maha Padyatra against trifurcation of the state capital.

TDP leaders pointed out that defects were not identified and without making proposals and sanction of funds, the authorities announced closure to take up repairs.

According to Rajahmundry rural MLA Gorantla Butchaiah Chowdary the bridge completely deteriorated due to neglecting emergency repairs and maintenance work for the past three and a half years.

During Covid-19 induced lockdown, the South Central Railway had completed comprehensive track maintenance work of the track.

The track maintenance work was undertaken 43 years from the time the bridge was commissioned in 1977.

The rail-cum-road bridge with 34 spans across the Godavari is the third longest rail-cum-road structure in India, after the Digha-Sonpur bridge across the Ganga near Patna and Bogibeel Bridge across the Brahmaputra in Assam.

Built by the Braithwaite, Burn & Jessop Construction Company, the rail-cum-road bridge streamlined train movement on the vital Chennai-Vijayawada-Visakhapatnam-Howrah sector.

This was earlier catered by the Sir Havelock Bridge, now a heritage structure. It was built in 1897, and after serving in its full utility, was decommissioned in 1997.

Another bridge which added to the chain later, is the pre-stressed concrete Bow String Arch shaped third bridge across River Godavari at Rajahmundry, which is considered as an engineering marvel

It is one of the longest-span prestressed concrete arch bridges in Asia.

Source: IANS

Facebook Comments
In the two Telugu states, bridges in urgent need of professional care

About Gopi

Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.

He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.

When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.

He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz

%d bloggers like this: