CCTV cameras and steel dividers would be installed on the Patna side of Mahatma Gandhi Setu to ensure smooth traffic, the government informed the Legislative Council on Monday.

Replying to CPI member Kedar Nath Pandey's query on speedy renovation of the bridge, road construction minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, alias Lalan Singh, said: 'The government has decided to install two CCTV cameras on the bridge to check overloaded vehicles. To overcome the problem of overtaking and traffic snarls, 500 moveable steel dividers would be installed on the bridge from the Patna side.'

The dividers would be significant because parts of the Mahatma Gandhi Setu are closed for repair, forcing motorists to use only one lane. The dividers are proposed to be set up on the operational lane so that vehicles do not overtake each other, leading to snarls. So far as heavy vehicles are concerned, the road construction department has banned heavy vehicles with more than 10 wheels taking the bridge. The CCTV cameras would help personnel check if any such vehicles violate the order.

On the bridge's repair, minister Singh said Gammon India would be blacklisted if it fails to complete the work by May 14 according to the agreement with the government.

Gammon India's agreement with the government was signed on October 31, 2014.

On further works, the minister first referred to a June 2012 meeting between chief minister Nitish Kumar and then minister for road transport and national highways C.P. Joshi under which the government agreed to maintain and repair the bridge for the next six years with funds provided by the Centre. He, however, went on to express the government's inability to carry out further maintenance and repair as the central government delayed in giving a no-objection certificate for construction of a new bridge parallel to the Gandhi setu from Kachi Dargah to Bidupur in Vaishali.

He claimed the maintenance agreement has lost its relevance because of a two-and-a-half years delay in giving the no-objection certificate.

Intervening, Leader of Opposition in the Council, Sushil Kumar Modi said: 'It was not conditional at all. It is nowhere written in the clauses that state government will stop carrying out maintenance and repairing work of Gandhi setu if NOC is not issued by the Centre for construction of a new bridge. The state government cannot shirk its responsibility to maintain the bridge.'