An important bridge on the Munsyari-Milam road near the India-China border in Uttarakhand had collapsed on June 22 when an earth-mover was being taken across. However, the bridge has already been rebuilt by the Border Roads Organisations (BRO) in a record time of just five days, reported TOI. 

Traffic went back to normal on Saturday.


A BRO official said that the bridge reconstruction was done on priority basis since it is a “strategic important link.”

He said, “Generally, it takes around a month to build a bridge like this but we were able to complete the reconstruction of this bridge in a record time."

The bridge which is 110-foot-long and has a capacity of carrying a weight of around 30 tons is crucial for BRO's construction of the 64-km-long Munsyari-Milam Road which once completed will make movement of Army and ITBP personnel to the higher Himalayan posts along the China border easy.

The report further added that the BRO had undertaken the bridge restoration on priority as it is the only route for movement of vehicles involved in the road construction.

Pithoragarh district magistrate Vijay Kumar Jogdande said, “BRO has entrusted the work to a private construction company and the bridge collapse occurred when the workers were moving heavy equipment. The bridge collapse had also cut off over a dozen villages in the area. We have now set up an inquiry panel regarding the collapse, under the Munsyari sub-divisional magistrate who will submit a report within 15 days."

DM Jogdanded also added that the BRO has managed to finish the construction of two more bridges on the road connecting Dharchula and Lipulekh Pass which was recently inaugurated by Union defence minister Rajnath Singh. 

He said, “The construction of bridges at Bundi and Malap were pending when the road was inaugurated by the defence minister. These have been completed on June 8 and June 26 respectively. Both will be thrown open for vehicle movement on Monday. However, passenger vehicles will be allowed on these bridges only once a week, which is most likely to be Sunday."