The April 8 report of The Telegraph on the bridge

Patna, June 10: Around 50 lakh residents of Kosi region today got linked with the rest of the state by road after over seven months following the inauguration of the makeshift bridge parallel to the existing one on NH-107.

The new bridge came as a huge relief to the residents of Saharsa, Madhepura and Supaul districts. Commuting had become an uphill task for them after the closure of the BP Mandal bridge across Kosi (Dumri Ghat).

The Telegraph had reported about the construction of the alternative bridge on April 8. At that time, the bridge was expected to be opened for the public in the last week of May. But the project got delayed by a week because of some technical reasons.

The construction of the makeshift bridge was necessitated because the BP Mandal bridge on Kosi river was closed down after a part of it sunk in the river. Opened for public use in 1986, the fault in the bridge was detected in August 2010. The expansion point near the 16th pillar had increased unexpectedly. This gap grew alarmingly in September last year, after which the precautionary step was taken.

The movement of heavy vehicles on the bridge stopped from September 23 last year. The light vehicles were prohibited from November 5.

Taking into account the problems people faced, the road construction department had arranged boats for ferrying commuters across the river.

With the alternative bridge now open for use, people would not have to spend hours to cross the river using boats.

The alternative structure is a sheet pile bridge made of steel. Under this technique, hollow pipes are sunk 12m deep in the riverbed. Once the sinking process is over, the hollow pipes are filled with sand. An iron sheet is then placed over the pipes.

The new bridge has 94 spans and its length is 566m. It is 3.75m wide. Initially, only light vehicles would be allowed on this temporary structure.

Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam provided Rs 15 crore from its profit under the corporate social responsibility scheme for the construction of this bridge.

“Keeping the people’s plight in mind, we took the initiative of setting up this temporary bridge. The bridge has been completed in a record time of two months because of the sincerity of the team that carried out the construction work,” road construction department minister Nand Kishore Yadav told The Telegraph.

The minister also took a dig at the Centre for not responding to the state’s request to provide funds for undertaking the repairing work of the main bridge.

“After detection of fault in the original bridge, the state government had submitted a proposal of Rs 43 crore for repairing the bridge to the Centre. But till date, the Centre has not made its stand clear on the proposal,” he added.

Allaying fear that the makeshift bridge would be of no use during the rainy season, Yadav said the height of the temporary structure had been set on the basis of the highest water level at the time of floods so that users could use it even when the area is affected by deluge.

“There would be problems only if a flood of unprecedented level hits the area,” he added.

Sharing a unique feature of the new bridge, Yadav said the whole structure could be used for setting up a temporary bridge at another location. “This investment will not go waste after the main bridge becomes operational. We will use the material for constructing another bridge where it would be required,” he said.