In a setback to the State Government’s flagship project, three girders of the under-construction 910-meter Gurupriya bridge near the Balimela reservoir collapsed on Tuesday following incessant rains.
Works Secretary Nalini Kanta Pradhan said on Wednesday that due to this, the completion of the bridge would be delayed by two months. The project, notably, was scheduled to be commissioned by September-end.
Pradhan also said that the concerned contractor would have to bear the cost of restoration of the girders that have caved in. An experts’ team would inspect the damages to ascertain the reasons behind the incidence, he added.
Many people, including the locals, however, blamed poor construction work with inferior materials for the collapse of the girders between 10 and 11 columns.
Notably, July was the initial deadline for completion of the bridge work. But later, the timeline was rescheduled to September.
The work of much-awaited bridge, which would provide road connectivity to around 154 villages spread over seven panchayats with a population of 30,000 tribals in the cutoff areas of Maoist-infected Malkangiri district, has been delayed due to several reasons.
Earlier, contractors were not ready to take up the job due to the Maoist threat.