Under-construction bridge caves in, narrow escape for 8 workers
At least eight workers had a narrow escape when an under-construction bridge over Beas river in Solang near Manali collapsed on Sunday morning.
The bridge came down crumbling when the labourers were removing the formwork as its lintels collapsed.
The construction of the bridge had started in 2015, but it could not be completed even after seven years.
Residents of Solang village had raised questions over the quality of the construction work after which the Himachal Pradesh public works department (PWD) cancelled the tender and the bridge was to be built afresh.
The villagers had, meanwhile, built a temporary wooden bridge to cross the river. Two teenagers were killed when that bridge was washed away in a flood in August this year after which there was a huge uproar over the delay in the construction of the bridge.
People had blamed the government for the death of the teenagers and even held two PWD officials hostage when they visited the village after the incident.
The Congress had made it one of the key issues during the recently held assembly elections and alleged corruption behind the delay in the construction work.
The government had in 2008 announced the construction of the bridge for connectivity with Solang village after 35 houses there were gutted as fire brigade could not reach the spot due to absence of a road link.
The work could only get started in 2015, but stalled at several instances.
PWD executive engineer Anoop Sharma said the older bridge was to be razed due to poor quality of work. “The work to build the bridge afresh has already been awarded to a new contractor. The old contractor was collecting his material from the construction site and the bridge collapsed when the labourers were removing the shuttering,” he added.