Uttarakhand: Bridge collapses in disaster-ridden Uttarkashi affecting atleast 40,000 villagers

On Thursday morning, the bridge collapsed when two trucks crossed it on either side at the same time making the load on the bridge which had the load capacity of 16 tonnes.

After the collapse, arrangements were being made by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to establish a temporary connection for the affected villagers.

In the year 2012, a bridge in the Assi Ganga Valley had collapsed due to flash floods. In the same year another bridge was established by the BRO to establish connection between the 80 villages and Uttarkashi. However, it was only a temporary arrangement which had to be replaced by a permanent bridge.

Chauhan said, “I have ordered an enquiry into the incident. A committee of the ADM and the superintendent engineer of PWD has been formed who will submit a report to me in 15 days.”

He said that the committee will study the reasons behind the delay in replacing the temporary arrangement with a permanent one.

“Whether the BRO, which was the construction agency for the bridge, left any flaws during bridge construction will also be enquired by the committee,” Chauhan said.