Border Road
NEW DELHI, August 17: Despite frequent landslides and heavy rains, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) completed construction of a 180-feet bailey bridge in Jauljibi sector of Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand in less than three weeks.
The 50-metre span concrete bridge was completely washed out on July 27 in a cloudburst causing flooding of rivers and nullahs and the consequent mud flow with tremendous force in the area. There were many casualties also due to landslides and the road communication was broken.
The BRO mobilised its bridging resources and setup to construct the bridge. The biggest challenge was to transport parts to the site from Pithoragarh amidst frequent landslides and heavy rains. The bridge was successfully completed on August 16 which led to accessing flood affected villages and has connected Jauljibi to Munsiyari.
The bridge brought relief to about 15,000 people in 20 villages as it helped resumption of 66-kilometre long road communication between Jauljibi and Munsiyari. The local Member of Parliament Ajay Tamta had expressed his concern over the worst affected isolated villages of Lumti and Mori, about 25-kilometre from Jauljibi, which were feared to have suffered worst death tragedies.
(Manas Dasgupta)