Uttarakhand: 36 bridges found unsafe in safety audit

Dehradun, Nov 22: As many as 36 bridges in Uttarakhand have been found 'unfit for traffic' in a safety audit conducted in five zones of the state on the instructions of chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.

Following the safety audit, the Public Work Department (PWD) handed over the report of 2618 bridges out of 3262 in the state to the government.

RK Sudhanshu, principal secretary of the PWD Department said, "Instructions have been given by the government to set up a bridge bank so that new bridges can be constructed in time." ANI quoted him as saying.

Sudhansu also added that all the district magistrates have been instructed to take measures accordingly.

In this regard, the CM's directives were issued on November 3. The state government sought the report within three weeks.

The state government is planning to construct new bridges in place of old bridges.

It is to be noted that in the Morbi bridge collapse incident in Gujarat on October 30, at least 135 people were killed and over 100 were injured.