Kalinganagar: Accidents are common on the dilapidated Brahmani bridge but the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has been indifferent to the sufferings of pedestrians and commuters.
The commuters are always under fear while crossing the bridge.
Locals alleged that no repair work of the bridge has been carried for the last 60 years.
The Citizen Forum Sunday wrote a letter to the NHAI, highlighting the problem and a copy has also been sent to the Jajpur Collector.
Everyday hundreds of trucks carrying raw materials to Kalinga Nagar industrial area ply on the bridge. Due to the lack of maintenance, portions of the safety wall have been vanished and some pieces of bamboo have taken their places.
Similarly, some concrete slabs put on the raised pavements for pedestrians have been destroyed, posing threat to the lives of commuters and cattle. Hence, minor and major accidents are common on this bridge.
The locals have placed effigies at the accident-prone places of the bridge.
As per the guidelines, repair work of a bridge must be carried out once in 20 years. But such guidelines have totally been ignored in the case of Brahmani bridge, it was alleged.
They also alleged that there are 150 bearings in between 30 spans of the bridge.
While only 20 of them have been replaced so far, 130 are in need of replacement, they added.
PNN