Sinking of Irang Bridge : Negligence can be possible reason
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, May 15 2022: Certain quarters have opined that negligence can be the main reason for the sinking of Imphal-Jiribam highway's Irang bailey bridge.

Notably, Imphal-Jiribam highway has been cut off since one side of the bailey bridge slanted and fell into the strong current of Irang River at around 1 pm of May 12 .

Some engineers of the State PWD have already opined that the bailey bridge did not snap.

The bridge became twisted and sank partially after one of its foundations or abutment sunk following erosion of the earth which supported it by the river current, they said.

Construction and maintenance work of Imphal-Jiribam highway including its bridges is done by NHIDCL which is a public undertaking of the Government of India.

However, no NHIDCL engineers have yet bothered to give any explanation since the highway had been cut off as a result of the sinking of Irang Bridge at Taobang.

Nonetheless one senior PWD engineer and some other engineers who acted as supervising engineers in the construction of Barak and Makru bridges opined that the river current seeped through the earth which supported the abutment and made it soft and it ultimately led to the sinking of Irang Bridge.

The abutments of Irang Bridge were constructed by the BRO and they are very old.

Even though the abutments are old, they were supporting the bridge all these years.

The Irang Bridge snapped in the middle and fell into the river when an excessively heavy truck (tipper) carrying sand from Dimapur was crossing it on November 1, 2020 .

An unused bailey bridge was brought from Tengnoupal as its replacement but it too fell into the river due to errors in the installation/launching process.

Afterwards, another bailey bridge which was in the possession of the army was brought there and the same was installed as Irang Bridge.

However, the abutments were not checked before installing the bailey bridge brought from the army and this was a mistake on the part of NHIDCL, the engineers remarked.

They said that bailey bridges often break down due to snapping in the middle, ramming into railings by vehicles accidentally or loosening of pins but it does not like these common factors were responsible for the recent sinking of Irang Bridge.

Bridges need regular maintenance.

As the abutments of Irang Bridge were quite old, they should have been checked frequently, they said.

Whether the earth supporting the abutments were vulnerable to sinking or still firm could have been known earlier had the abutments been checked in time, they rued.

It was possible that the earth supporting the abutments got eroded by the river current over the years, they said.

If the abutments were checked in time and the earth supporting them were found eroded, necessary 'protection work' could have been taken up.

But it is not clear whether these routine maintenance works were done or not.

It is suspicious that necessary inspection work was not done regularly, they added.

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