MC yet to test soil beneath bridge declared unsafe 8 yrs back

Ludhiana: Even after eight years since the bridge near Chand Cinema was declared unsafe for commuting, the civic authorities are still stuck with soil testing of the bridge site. Before preparing the design of this bridge, the officials have asked the experts from Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College to conduct soil testing.
The bridge was declared unsafe in 2011, but till now the civic authorities could not reconstruct it and even now it will take almost a year to conduct soil testing, preparing the designs or hiring some agency for construction work. The heavy vehicles are already not allowed to pass through this unsafe bridge constructed over 100 years ago.
The civic body had attempted to float tenders for construction of this bridge thrice in 2017, but they did not get required response for allotting the work. The bridge was closed for heavy vehicles in May 2018 and since then only light vehicles are allowed to pass while heavy ones take another bridge. During peak hours, heavy rush can be witnessed at the location.
Requesting anonymity, an MC official claimed that recently a proposal was given in the meeting of Finance and Contracts Committee that bridge should be constructed under Smart City Mission funds because MC does not have adequate funds for the same. He said consensus could not be reached over this proposal and it was decided to get the work done through MC funds.
Ashok Kumar, a resident of Shivpuri who uses the bridge daily, said, “This link is frequently used by people to reach Chaura Bazaar for several day-to-day works but it was closed for movement of heavy vehicles.”
He said the bridge links the traffic coming from elevated road and railway station road to Jalandhar bypass and vice versa. He rued during peak hours, load of traffic increases and people face tough time while passing through this bridge.
Meanwhile, superintending engineer (projects) H S Bhullar said, “We are getting the soil testing done through GNE and the report is expected next week following which designing work will start.” He said it would take time to complete the formalities before actual ground work could begin.