NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the over 9-km bridge in Assam in May amid much fanfare but many bridges in the northeastern states, including Meghalaya, remain unattended.
An official survey has shown that Meghalaya has 27 bridges, mostly in South Garo Hills, which need immediate attention. They are categorised as stressed bridges.
Bihar tops the list with 40 stressed bridges, Maharashtra has 14, Assam and Rajasthan have nine each, Jammu & Kashmir has seven of them, Nagaland and West Bengal have five each and Gujarat has six distressed structures.
The survey done by the ministry had found 6,770 bridges and other structures to be stressed. The actual number will be more because the survey by the Road Transport Ministry covered only the ones falling in national highway corridors.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had told Parliament that these structures need immediate attention and the Centre has started work on the “weakest” ones first.
“Now at least we have the details of the condition of bridges and other structures on our highways,” he had said.
“The survey and scoring of these structures have been based on the assessment of deck, super structure and sub-structure. So we can prioritise the maintenance and focus on them and the assessment of these structures will be taken up in regular intervals,” said a ministry official.
Several infrastructure projects undertaken by New Delhi in this region have picked up pace in the past decade, more so after the current BJP government came to power in 2014.
The development of roads and bridges have been seen as a concerted effort to strengthen the war preparedness of the Indian armed forces given that China is contesting India’s claim over the territory of Arunachal Pradesh.
To match China’s infrastructure in Tibet, New Delhi has simultaneously invested in roads for carrying heavy machinery, including turbines, to dam project sites. This is part of India’s ambitions to stake its riparian rights over trans-boundary river water conflicts with China over the Brahmaputra.
The Centre is also claiming that these projects will address the huge developmental gap that the various tribes of Arunachal Pradesh live with.
