Repair work on progress on Gandhi Setu in Patna. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Repair work on the Mahatma Gandhi Setu could hit the monsoon roadblock after the ban on the movement of 10-wheeled trucks.

Officials concerned said the repair work on pillar numbers 43 to 45 along the bridge’s western flank is moving at snail’s pace. Now, work can be done as equipment has been set in the riverbed. Once monsoon hits Bihar, the work could go for a toss.

A road construction department official told The Telegraph: “Work at the Mahatma Gandhi Setu is moving at a very slow pace. The 300m stretch between the pillars needs to be removed and built again. Cranes and other construction equipment have been installed in the riverbed just below the stretch that needs to be repaired. The Ganga is mostly dry now, allowing the machines to be properly installed.

“But monsoon would soon set in. Once the river swells, the equipment would not hold ground and would have to be removed till the end of monsoon. Going by the pace of construction work, it doesn’t seem that things would be done in time.”

The monsoon is expected to hit Bihar around June 13. In addition to the watery hurdles, the administration is also staring at a chance of truck drivers’ associations staging road blockades for not being allowed to use the bridge, a lifeline between Patna and north Bihar.

The truckers, especially those who operate the vehicles with more than six wheels on the 5.575km bridge, are feeling the pinch. There are at least one lakh such trucks in the state. Office-bearers of Bihar Truck Owners’ Association said they are running in loss.

“Movement of the big trucks has been stopped suddenly but we have not been given any alternative. The association would take up this matter with the government and if no solution is available, we would stage road blockades. Any big truck blocking a road would lead to traffic snarls. We don’t want that to happen,” said Bhanu Shekhar Prasad Singh, the association president.

Sources said the truckers could take the Patna-Gaya road to reach north Bihar but that would take far more time than availing the Mahatma Gandhi bridge. The government recently banned 10-wheeled trucks and more to use the bridge. The directive was not implemented properly though. On Saturday, the administration stopped the trucks from taking the bridge.