230 feet long Bailey steel bridge damaged in Meghalaya

Shillong: The damage of a newly constructed 230 feet long Bailey steel bridge over Umïam river at Dwar Ksuid in Meghalaya has raised questions over the manner in which regulation of overloaded trucks by the State Transport department.
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong had inaugurated the steel bridge on March 25, after the Border Roads Organization (BRO) worked tirelessly, and completed in a record of five days to assemble the steel materials.
The project was taken up under SARDP-NE and the bridge can support a heavy vehicle with a load below 40 metric tons.
Ri-Bhoi district, Deputy Commissioner, R.M.Kurbah has issued order under section 144 Cr.P.C prohibiting plying of vehicles over the Bailey bridge in the interest of public order and for the safety of the road users as well as the bridge and road pavement in the area in particular and the district as a whole.
However, vehicles weighing within 10 MT only are allowed to ply through concrete Dwar Ksuid Umroi bridge.
Officials in the state PWD (Roads) remained speechless as the damage of the steel bridge came as a big embarrassment to the Meghalaya government.
“The NHAI and the state PWD (Roads) were tasked with the responsibility to construct the steel bridge which has been completed with the help of the BRO. It’s not our responsibility to regulate the movement of vehicles,” an official said.
The state Transport department is being blamed as it failed to check and regulate movement of overloaded trucks.
With both the steel bridge and RCC bridge at Dwar Ksuid in danger, now the national highway through Shillong city is bracing yet for another chock-a-block with traffic, especially loaded trucks.
On the other hand, Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong informed that movement of vehicles through the Bailey bridge has resumed on Tuesday evening after the BRO came to fix the problem. According to Tynsong the problem was not major.
“We want to make sure that a load of any vehicle passing through this steel bridge should not cross 40 MT. We have posted police personnel on both the endpoint of the bridge to monitor and check the movement of overloaded vehicles. Be it the state transport department or police, they should ensure that overloaded trucks are regulated,” Tynsong said.