 ASHWANI SHARMA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
UDHAMPUR, Aug 29: Inaugurated with much fanfare nearly 20 months ago, a bridge over river Tawi in Riti Panchayat near Roun Domail area Udhampur has suffered extensive damages due to incessant rains and flash floods.
The bridge was thrown open for public use on December 22, 2018 after MoS PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated it for the benefit of people of Udhampur and Ramnagar.
Sources informed that the ill-fated bridge was constructed by the Public Works Department and got completed after ten years with expenditure estimated to the tune of Rs 7.87 crore, however, the concerned authorities hardly paid any attention towards proper maintenance of the bridge ever since it was commissioned for public use.
The authorities have closed a portion of the bridge for vehicular movement after it suffered excessive damages in order to prevent any mishap.
The damage caused to the bridge has already generated a lot of resentment among various quarters of Udhampur district.
Political as well as non-political organizations and individuals have raised question marks over the quality of work and have demanded the action against the erring persons responsible the sub-standard work.
A social activist, Rahul Jandial, who is a practicing lawyer in District Court Udhampur along with others, expressed grave concern over the poor construction work which could have proved fatal.
Meanwhile, when contacted, Executive Engineer PWD, Pawan Gupta did not respond to the repeated phone calls for a comment over the development.
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