Fate of Swadesh Nagar Bridge hangs in balance as the Contractor Pulls Out

Bridge: Waiting to kill innocent people

N & M Correspondent

Billyground, Feb 09: Previously atleast in two occasions Andaman Sheekha had reported about the dangerous condition of Swadesh Nagar wooden Bridge, which is situated over Lauki Nallah. The bridge is one of the oldest bridges of North and Middle Andaman and an integral part of Andaman Trunk Road but presently the bridge is in horrible shape and can collapse at any point of time.

Photographs taken by Andaman Sheekha are sufficient to prove how bad the condition of the said bridge is. After first report published by Andaman Sheekha there were some efforts to repair the bridge and the contract was awarded to a private contractor. When Lt. Governor had travelled all the way to Diglipur via ATR the APWD had kept huge amount of construction materials along the bridge to show that the repair work of the bridge is going on in full swing but even today the work has not been completed. Infact the work did not start, it seems.

When Andaman Sheekha questioned the contractor about the delay in completion of the said work he alleged that due to frequent change in decision of the officials of the APWD, he is unable to carryout the work. The contractor said that one of the technical persons, who had come for this work from mainland had gone back to mainland because he was frustrated with the sudden changes in decisions of APWD officials and continuous mental harassment.

Infact the contractor has intimated the Executive Engineer, NACD, APWD about his decision to stop the work for now by a letter dt. 10.01.2012 but after that no steps has been taken by the APWD to sort out the issue.

Now as the work has been halted the condition of the bridge remains to be dangerous. Everyday passenger busses cross the said bridge with bus full of passengers, which may cause a major accident at any point of time. After such incident a judicial or departmental inquiry will be of no use.

As the bridge is not being repaired some villages of the area are worst hit. Villagers like Laukinallah & Duke Nagar & Swadeshnagar are not able to carryout any kind of construction work as heavy cargo vehicles are not allowed to cross the bridge and enter their village.

When Contacted the EE of Mayabuder refuted all these allegations. “No, no there is no issue like that,” he replied. However, Andaman Sheekha has the letter of the contractor, which is enough to prove what is the actual reason behind this delay. If the work is not started within this month then before this monsoon the work will not end and hence for another one year people will have to cross the said dangerous bridge everyday, which may result in a disaster at any point of time. Hope the new Chief Engineer, Er. P K Singh will find out some time to visit the Swadesh Nagar Bridge himself and sort out the problem.