30-year-old bridge on Budameru caves-in in Gunadala

Vijayawada: The 30-year-old bridge on Budameru rivulet caved in disrupting the movement of vehicles in Gunadala on Thursday. The bridge was built by the irrigation department to cater to the needs of the Gunadala residents. But the bridge became weak due to increasing vehicular traffic and caved in on Thursday creating panic among locals.

Every day, hundreds of vehicles pass over the bridge. Fortunately, it did not collapse when vehicles were passing on it. Hundreds of school autorickshaws, small buses and other vehicles pass over the bridge, which connects Nunna and Vijayawada. The locals immediately noticed the poor condition of bridge and closed the road.

Irrigation department OSD K Rajendra Prasad inspected the bridge and assured the locals that it would be repaired immediately. He also said a pipeline would be arranged for the movement of smaller vehicles in two weeks. Speaking to the The Hans India, he said that repair works would be completed in two weeks till then the locals have to cooperate and use alternative roads.

Meanwhile the members of CPM staged a dharna near the bridge demanding the government to complete the Gunadala flyover bridge. The flyover construction works were started nearly six years ago but halted after laying pillars due to political reasons. Meanwhile the bridge construction cost was also jumped from Rs 37 crore to Rs 50 crore due to delay in progress of works.

CPM State secretariat member Ch Babu Rao with party workers staged a dharna demanding the government to immediately restart the construction of Gunadala flyover bridge works. The Congress government sanctioned Rs 37 crore for construction of flyover. Now, the TDP government also neglected the bridge, which will pass on Eluru canal, Bandar canal and Budameru rivulet.