A portion of an important bridge on the Balasan river on National Highway-31 in Siliguri caved in as the water current damaged its pillars following heavy spells of rainfall that continued to lash north Bengal today.

The incident prompted the Siliguri Metropolitan Police to suspend traffic movement on the bridge and divert vehicles to some other routes. People used the bridge at Matigara to reach Bagdogra Airport, and go to Kolkata
and Bihar from Siliguri.

Engineers of the NH division of the PWD are assessing the extent of the damage, it is learnt. The police allowed only two-wheelers and pedestrians to cross the bridge today. According to the irrigation and waterways department, Siliguri received 245 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours, the highest amount recorded in the town this year in the 24-hour period.

“Taking into consideration the safety of citizens, movement of traffic over the bridge has been temporarily suspended. The continuous downpour has led the river to swell, and we are requesting people to avoid the bridge at this moment,” Siliguri police commissioner Gaurav Sharma said, as he took stock of the bridge.

According to the police, three-wheelers and four-wheelers coming from the Bagdogra side will take a right turn from Shivmandir underpass and take the Naukaghat road to reach Siliguri and vehicles going to Bagdogra from Siliguri, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Dooars and Sikkim will take the Eastern Bypass or Hill Cart Road and Burdawan Road to reach Naukaghat and take the Kawakhali route by crossing the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital to reach Shivmandir and Bagdogra.

“Vehicles going to Bagdogra from Darjeeling, Mirik and Kurseong will ply on the Gadidhura, Panighatta, Bengdubi route for quicker and safer travel. We are advising people to avoid non-essential travel as much as possible until the weather improves,” said a senior police officer.

The chairman of the board of administrators of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation, Gautam Deb, held discussions on the situation with PWD engineers.

Mr Deb said one of the pillars of the bridge had tilted. He said engineers will conduct repair work as soon as the water level in the river recedes. Mr Deb said a fitness check of the bridge which was conducted earlier had certified it to be fit.

Meanwhile, Matigara-Naxalbari BJP MLA Anandamay Barman, who visited the site, blamed the Trinamul Congress-led state government for its alleged dilly-dallying attitude in building n elevated four-lane corridor on the stretch.

“It is a very crucial bridge that connects a wide range of areas, including important establishments. We came to know that two pillars of the bridge have caved in. The state government is only to be blamed for the situation. The
Centre has taken all the necessary steps to upgrade the road into a four-lane one at least for the past two years. But former state minister Mr Deb had raised objections, demanding a six-lane road. The four-lane road would have started from this bridge to Sevoke (13.4km),” Mr Barman said while visiting the bridge.