Ghior bridge over Dhaleswari River declared risky
Soil near its two pillars loosens
Authorities stopped plying heavy vehicles on Ghior Bridge over Dhaleshwari River in Manikganj district on Friday as the bridge has turned risky due to loosening of soil near two of its pillars.Photo: STAR
Authorities on Friday suspended plying of heavy vehicles on Ghior Bridge over the Dhaleswari River as the bridge has turned risky due to loosening of soil near its two pillars. Road communication between Manikganj district headquarters and Daulatpur upazila has been disrupted due to the situation. The Ghior-Daulatpur road is also very important for the people of Chowhali upazila of Sirajganj and Nagarpur upazila of Tangail as they use it to go to the capital. Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) built the 180-metre-long and 3.66-metre-wide bridge on Ghior-Daulatpur road at Ghior with Tk 2 crore in 2007 and it was opened in June for vehicular movement, said sources of Ghior upazila office of LGED. Visiting the bridge on Sunday, this correspondent saw that authorities set warning signboards and kept tree logs on both sides of the bridge to prevent movement of heavy vehicles. Village police have been deployed there too. There are eight pillars in the bridge. Locals alleged that a section of people have been lifting sand from 60-70 yards off the bridge for long although soil lifting within 200 yards of the bridge is illegal. "The bridge is now under threat as the soil from the bottom of its two pillars has been washed away by the river current. The LGED has taken initiative to save the bridge. The high officials already visited the bridge on Saturday," said Ghior Upazila LGED Engineer Md Yusuf Hossain. "The soil has been sent to the research unit of LGED head office for test. We will take necessary steps after getting the soil test report," he said.
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