The Manpur bridge over river Falgu, in Gaya district, where only light vehicles are allowed to ply. Picture by Suman

The travails of passengers travelling in buses between Gaya and Nawada — an important stretch connecting Bodhgaya with Buddhist circuit sites like Rajgir, Nalanda and Pawapuri — seem to be a never ending saga.

They have to get off the bus, cross the road bridge built by the British over river Tilaiya on foot and board another waiting on the other side of the bridge for their onward journey. Recently, the district administration set up an iron bar on either side of the single-lane bridge near Hisua block in Nawada district, around 41km from Gaya and 150km southeast of Patna, barring movement of heavy vehicles.

Like the bridge over the Tilaiya, two other bridges along the Gaya-Nawada route — one on the Dhadhar river between Jamuawan and Tungi villages and another on the Paimar river near Wazirganj in Gaya district, are also in a shambles.

Built by the British between 1932 and 1934, the three single-lane bridges over the Tilaiya, Dhadhar and the Paimar are on National Highway 82 but are unfit for plying of heavy vehicles. Residents said it was even dangerous for light vehicles to ply on the bridges. Railings and guard walls are broken at many places, making the bridges a nightmare for motorists.

Ashok Kumar Singh, the divisional manager of Bihar State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC), Gaya division, confirmed the alternative arrangement made by the bus operators while crossing the three bridges on the Gaya-Nawada route.

“At least 20 BSRTC undertaking buses operate on the Gaya-Nawada route. Not only is the journey along the route risky and painful for the residents, the revenue collection of the corporation has also gone down because of the damaged single-lane bridge over the Tilaiya. Earlier, the BSRTC earned revenue for the total 54km stretch from Gaya to Nawada. But now, we earn revenue for only 41km,” he told The Telegraph.

Like the domestic passengers, foreigners visiting Rajgir, Nalanda and Pawapuri from Bodhgaya are also suffering because of the poor road condition.

Gyan Singh, a travel operator in Bodhgaya, said tourist buses plying between Bodhgaya and Rajgir and Nalanda and Pawapuri are being diverted via Jethian-Bhindas-Chamandih road, which is at least 10km longer than the Gaya-Nawada route. “The foreigners visiting Bodhgaya look for Volvo buses. But the road is not fit to ply such luxury buses. The three single-lane bridges on the Gaya-Nawada route should be immediately replaced with at least two-lane bridges,” he added.

On September 12 this year, chief minister Nitish Kumar had laid the foundation of the first six-lane road bridge of Bihar over the Falgu connecting Gaya town and Manpur blocks. The chief minister had then announced that once the six-lane bridge was complete, it would connect the Buddhist circuit sites.

However, Nitish’s dream to connect the Buddhist sites would not be fulfilled if the three single-lane bridges on the Gaya-Nawada route were not repaired or replaced.

BSRTC officials said the six-lane bridge would be constructed at an estimated Rs 64.51 crore provided under central allocation. It would replace the existing iron bridge that has also been declared unfit for plying of heavy vehicles around five years ago. According to the proposal, work on the new six-lane bridge is likely to begin soon. The bridge, which will be 557m long and 26m wide, is likely to be completed by April 2015.

Shyamanand Pandey, the executive engineer of the National Highway Division–II based in Biharsharif, told The Telegraph that there was a proposal for widening the 92.935km stretch of Gaya-Nawada road up to Biharsharif into a four-lane one. “We have earmarked Rs 1,640.61 crore for the four-lane project. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide Rs 1,229.43 crore, while the Centre’s share will be Rs 411.18 crore,” he said.

According to the proposal, there would be four road-over bridges, six major bridges, two underpasses and three bypasses near Manpur, Wazirganj and Tungi of 3.9km, 4.55km and 2.08km stretches, respectively. Around 335.8 hectares have to be acquired for the project.

“If the project gets the clearance from the ministry of road transport and highways, work would start in April next year and completed within 42 months. Once this is done, the three British-period bridges would be constructed in a new way,” Pandey said.

Apart from the four-lane project, the Union government has a project called least wing extremism — a scheme to build bridges in areas hit by extremism. The three bridges can be widened and constructed afresh as part of the proposal. A tender has been floated to prepare a detailed project report for construction of the bridges. The three single lane bridges would be replaced with new bridges in the next couple of years either as part of the road ministry-JICA project or under the least wing extremism proposal of the Union government,” Pandey said.

But till then, the passengers travelling between Gaya and Nawada would have to endure the pain to cross the bridges on foot.