Traffic on UP bridge halted for repair hours after its inauguration; Akhilesh calls it ‘serious issue’

PTI, Nov 2, 2023, 8:19 AM IST

Traffic on a bridge, built on the Naribari-Koraon state highway over the Tons river, was stopped for two hours for repairs, hours after it was inaugurated by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The bridge connecting the northern state to Reva in Madhya Pradesh was inaugurated on Monday.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said the bridge ”developing cracks just 10 hours after being inaugurated” by the chief minister is a ”serious issue.” Chief Project Manager of Bridge Corporation Manoj Agarwal on Wednesday refuted media reports claiming that cracks have appeared on the bridge. ”The soil beneath the bridge had gone down on Monday night. This was corrected on Tuesday. For this the traffic on the bridge was stopped for two hours,” Agarwal said.

Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya had in November 2021 laid the foundation stone of the bridge. The bridge was completed a month ago and was inaugurated by Chief Minister Adityanath on Monday.

”The bridge inaugurated by the chief minister in Prayagraj developing cracks within 10 hours is a serious matter, while the time of Kumbh Mela is approaching,” Yadav posted on X.

”How can strong bridges be built on the weak pillars of corruption? Same happened in Gujarat. For the safety of people’s lives, it is requested that ‘Gujarat’s development model’ should not be used here,” he added.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister was referring to the Morbi bridge collapse in Gujarat on October 30 last year in which 135 people, including 50 children, lost their lives.