Daijiworld Media Network - Puttur (SP)
Puttur, Aug 11: The incident in which an LPG tanker tumbled into rivulet from Paravarakotya bridge near Uadane, Uppinangady on national highway 75, on Tuesday gave rise to suspicion that this bridge would have developed cracks. As a result, traffic on the road was blocked till Wednesday afternoon, which gave rise to strong protest by locals.
Under pressure from locals and road users who faced lot of inconvenience, light vehicles were allowed to move on the bridge since Wednesday afternoon. Later, after a team of experts took stock of the situation, heavy vehicles were also allowed on the bridge.
The accident on Tuesday
Vehicular traffic on the road was banned and power supply was severed immediately after the accident on Tuesday. Even after the entire stock of liquefied petroleum gas in the fallen tanker flowed away with water, both traffic and power supply were not resumed. People from the area, who are entirely dependent on this bridge, were made to face lot of problems because traffic block and absence of power.
District superintendent of police, Bhushan Rao Borase, who visited the bridge on Wednesday, summoned engineers of national highways department to the spot. The engineers, who suspected presence of cracks in this bridge, opined that it would be safer to use the bridge only after expert verification. As such, vehicles moved on alternative route between Udane and Shiradi on natioanal highway 75 till Wednesday afternoon.