Siliguri, Oct. 30: The changing course of the Mahananda has delayed the commissioning of the third bridge on the river, with experts saying that the bridge and its two approach roads will lie “exposed” unless spurs are built to protect the concrete structure.

State urban development and municipal affairs minister Asok Bhattacharya said three more months would be needed for the final commissioning of the bridge.

“Problems have cropped up since the Mahananda is reported to be frequently changing its course. Recently, after okaying the revised plan of the bridge, we have conceived the idea of building spurs.”

The matter was discussed on October 22 at a meeting held in Calcutta and experts present there underscored the need to build spurs. They said the revised plan of the bridge should have contained provisions for spurs.

“It was because of faulty planning that the revised bridge plan didn't contain provisions for spurs,” said a senior irrigation and waterways department official.

Officials are worried as the construction of the spurs will incur an additional expenditure of Rs 1.5 crore besides the Rs 1.5 crore already earmarked for “protection work.”

“The new spurs will be constructed in-between the marginal and the guide-bunds as a first line of defence against the flow of the river. The primary purpose of the spurs will be to prevent water from hitting the guide-bunds. It will protect the two approach ways to the bridge,” said the executive engineer of the Darjeeling division of PWD, P.K. Sen.

“The final modalities with regard to construction of the spurs is almost complete. We hope to complete it by monsoon next year,” he said.

In the meantime the river continues to be in the midst of controversy with the local environment lobby expressing doubts about the effectiveness of the Mahananda Action Plan.

The plan, a brainchild of state urban development and municipal affairs minister Asok Bhattacharya, was formulated to clear the Mahananda of pollution and other man-made constructions posing a threat to the river’s eco-system.

Subir Sarkar, an environmentalist who teaches at North Bengal University, said: “Haphazard initiatives are likely to yield little since the river is extremely polluted. The plan should contain more details.”

The environmentalists are also worried that there might be a shortage of funds during the implementation of the project.

The Mahananda Action Plan was designed to

l address and check pollution in the river,

l improve the quality of water by treating effluents before they are discharged into the river,

lset up three treatment plants along the river embankment,

linitiate flood prevention scheme and

lundertake beautification projects.