Vikramshila Bridge across the Ganga in Bhagalpur. Picture by Ashutosh Kumar

Bhagalpur, Dec. 31: The future of Vikramshila bridge, an important transportation link in the region, is uncertain because of a change in the course of Ganga river.

The bridge across Ganga connects eastern parts of Bihar to Nepal and the northeast of the country.

Deposition of excess silt on the riverbed has started posing a threat to the bridge as it has forced the river to change course.

The changed water course in not only adding pressure on the pillar but also depositing excess sand on one side of the pillar while the other side is clean.

A high-level team of technical experts has described the situation as alarming. In the recent past, Dumri Bridge on Kosi river, another important bridge in the region connecting eastern Bihar districts with Kosi and Seemanchal region had to face the same situation when the pillars of the bridge were damaged, mainly due to a large-scale erosion by the river.

From November 10 this year, traffic on the bridge was completely withheld resulting in immense trouble for the people.

Following sand deposit, the direction of the river changed on the southern bank of the river. This posed immediate threat on the pillars of Vikramshila Bridge. Experts here expressed the possibility that some spans of the bridge may get dislocated but a high-level team of engineers from Patna who visited the place recently, said there was no immediate possibility of the damage of the pillars of the bridge.

Sources said from the side of Naugachia, over 30 out of 61 pillars of the bridge have been facing heavy deposit of sands in its surroundings.

Experts said, the bridge was constructed while giving at least 65-metre gap between two pillars, keeping in mind the undisrupted flow of water.

“But due to the change in water course, there’s heavy pressure on the pillars of the bridge on the side of Bhagalpur city. Such continuous pressure would certainly damage the pillars in the days to come,” an expert said.

“We have urged the water resources department to take immediate steps to clear sands from the river bed,” Janardan Singh Kashyap, executive engineer of Patna Health and Engineering Department said.

Echoing Kashyap, executive engineer of the state bridge construction limited, Bhawan Ram also emphasised on clearing the riverbed from the sands.

“We also requested the state government to take immediate steps to clear the riverbed,” he said.

Chief engineer of water resources department Bhagalpur R.P. Mahato also blamed the deposit of sands on the riverbed for the situation.

He said his department has informed the government about the risk. “We are preparing to remove the sands from the riverbed,” he said.

Experts also cited irregularities in maintenance of the bridge by the department concerned as a reason behind the deposition of sand.

“The bridge was constructed about 10 years ago but very little was done after that,” an expert was quoted as saying.

Sources said the government earned over Rs 6 crore from the toll tax of the bridge in the past 10 years. A report of a team of high-level engineers from Patna stated 67 rubber expansions should be changed immediately. The team also suggested for greasing and servicing the bearings of the bridge. Kashyap said till the repairing work of the bridge begins, a team of engineers would monitor the situation.

According to Kashyap, a team of engineers have been assigned to monitor the bridge daily till the work for repairing it and the process of the removal of sand from the riverbed is not initiated.