According to the local residents, they heard a loud sound at around 5 am on Friday and when they rushed to the site, they were shocked to see the damaged bridge.
The collapsed bridge at Birpur in Dehradun on Friday. (SNS)
Two persons were killed and two others injured when a bridge collapsed at Birpur in Dehradun on Friday. A heavy load dumper was passing through a bailey bridge when it crumbled. The old bridge, constructed during the British Raj, connected the army area and many villages in Ghanghora area.
According to the local residents, they heard a loud sound at around 5 am on Friday and when they rushed to the site, they were shocked to see the damaged bridge. Immediately after the incident, the local police and army team launched a massive search and rescue operation. Through the joint effort, the police and army team managed to rescue three injured. One injured died during treatment at the hospital.
Prem Thapa and Dhan Bahadur Thapa lost their lives in the tragic incident while Shahrukh and Zulfikar sustained injuries in the accident. The treatment of the injured is presently underway at a private hospital in Dehradun.
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As the bridge collapsed, the blame game started and the local people blamed the army for the accident. Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi alleged, “The construction work of a new bridge was affected due to a delay in issuing no-objection-certificate (NOC) by the army to the PWD. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Rawat had laid the foundation stone for the new bridge earlier this month on December 9. The PWD is seeking NOC from the sub area since the past one year.”
As the bridge collapsed, two bike riders and a dumper fell into the Tons river.
This is not the first incident. Last year in December a similar incident took place at Gangori in district Uttarkashi when two heavily loaded trucks were crossing a bailey bridge at Gangori at the same time damaging a crucial bridge connecting many villages.
Taking a note from the incident, the Uttarakhand government hosted a meeting of top officers of PWD and other concerned departments in Dehradun on Friday. Additional chief secretary Om Prakash has asked the PWD officers to prepare detailed project reports of 229 bridges.
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