Hyderabad:
A portion of an under-construction bridge in Telangana's Peddapalli district collapsed on Monday evening. Two concrete girders, out of five between two pillars about 30 meters apart, collapsed around 9.45pm after strong winds blew into the area. Locals suspect that the other three will also succumb soon.
“Fortunately, a wedding party of 65 people in a bus passed by just a minute earlier and escaped being crushed by the concrete,” said Sirikonda Bakka Rao, who was sarpanch of Odedu village, 600 meters away, until his term ended two months ago. told NDTV.
The nearly one-kilometre-long bridge over the Manair river was inaugurated in 2016 by then Telangana Assembly Speaker S Madhusudhana Chary and local MLA Putta Madhu, at a cost of nearly Rs 49 crore.
The work was to be completed within a year and was aimed at reducing the distance between three cities – Manthani, Parakal and Jammikunta – by about 50 km. The bridge was to connect Garmillapallu in Tekumatla Mandal in Bhupalpalli with Odededu in Peddapalli.
The contractor had reportedly stopped work within a year or two as he was under pressure for committees and the government was not paying his dues, locals said.
The same contractor had constructed a bridge in Vemulawada which was washed away during heavy rains in 2021, Mr Rao said.
The villagers had been using the same route for five years, with a mud road built under the bridge.
“The cost of the project was mounting and last year another Rs 11 crore was added to the estimated cost without even 60 percent of the work being completed,” said Sandeep Rao, a local resident.