Bengaluru: PWD officials studying safety aspects of bridges

Mangaluru: Following the collapse of the Moolarapatna bridge last week, Public Works Department (PWD) officials are studying all the major and important bridges in Dakshina Kannada district and their safety aspects. The team is here on the directions of the PWD department and Urban Development and Housing Minister U.T. Khader. Minister Mr Khader who visited Moolarapatna on Saturday, wanted the authorities to compulsorily study all bridges which are more than 25 years old. He had also proposed to have such studies done regularly.

The team of the Planning and Road Asset Management Centre (PRAMC) has already arrived and are at work with their bridge inspection vehicle. The PRAMC comes under the PWD department. “In the first round the team will study all major bridges which are more than 60 metres in length in the district. If our Assistant Executive Engineers feel that smaller  bridges which are about 40-50 metres in length are weak or old, then such bridges too would be examined,” PWD Superintend Engineer Kantharaju told Deccan Chronicle.

“The PRAMC team along with our officials is preparing the list and route map and has started examining the bridges.  The work of checking all the bridges may be completed in about a month after which they will submit a final report,” he said. With doubts being expressed by  people about the safety of Gurupur bridge, which dates back to the British era, the authorities checked the bridge last week. They are now in the process of examining other bridges.