The people living in the disaster affected areas of Uttarkashi district are experiencing anxiety with two under construction bridges collapsing within the duration of a fortnight at a time when many repair and reconstruction works in the affected areas are yet to be completed. Though the State Government claims to have taken serious cognisance of this with Chief Minister Harish Rawat directing officials to take disciplinary action against officials responsible, the locals remain skeptic considering the delay in work execution and inferior quality of the works.
On June 27, the motor bridge at Kamad partially collapsed when a truck transporting a heavy machine was being driven across the bridge. The mishap had resulted in six persons being injured. A week later, on July 5 a bailey bridge across the Asi Ganga at Digila in Bhatwari block collapsed. The work on this 55 metres long bridge being constructed by the National Buildings Construction Corporation limited (NBCC), costing about Rs three crore, was in its final stages when the structure collapsed. One person had died and four others were injured when this bridge collapsed.
This bridge is being built across the Asi Ganga to provide connectivity to residents of seven villages in the Bhatwari Tehsil of
Uttarkashi district.
The collapse of the bridge on the Kamad motor road has disrupted road connectivity for more than 3,000 persons living in eight villages in the region. On the other hand, following the more recent collapse of the bridge across the Asi Ganga, the road connectivity of people living in seven villages in the region has been affected.
While the Government claims to be taking serious efforts to prevent such mishaps and mitigate disasters especially in the rainy season, the locals have reasons to be apprehensive about their safety. They complain that the flood protection works along the Bhagirathi, Asi Ganga and other rivers were not started on time and on top of that the quality of work and materials used is inferior.
They point out that cloudbursts, floods and landslides have been causing damage to highways, connecting roads, villages and even urban areas in the districts on a yearly basis in the district but inspite of this, the authorities have so far failed to take effective and timely measures to ensure quality work for mitigating disasters.