Haphazard excavation under bridge in New Chandigarh worries residents

Flush with funds, holding immense opportunities for real estate and people in the region but always flattering to deceive. The bridges of New Chandigarh, like those from fiction novel “Bridges of Madison County”, aimed to paint a rosy picture for the city but are falling short by some distance.

Take a look at a bridge on the Boothgarh-Togan stretch in New Chandigarh under the aegis of Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA). Earth-moving machines are frantically excavating from the base of the bridge to connect a ramp with the road.

Residents of Kansala, Kartarpur Palheri, Takipur, Omaxe and around 15 Block Majri villages, however, complained that earth was being excavated indiscriminately close to the pillars of the newly constructed bridge structure, thereby putting its structural stability at great risk.

The machines are deployed at the base of the bridge to excavate earth from a seasonal rivulet. The earth excavated is ironicallly being used by the contractor to lay a ramp joining the bridge and the road.

The construction work of the bridge, around 200m in length, has been hanging fire for more than two years and road users have to cross the dried-up seasonal rivulet to cover the stretch. After rain, knee-deep water running through the rivulet brings with it its own set of hurdles. “Vehicles are getting damaged daily. There is dirt, slush, stones littered on the road. Patients have to take a long detours because of this unfinished bridge but there is no one answerable,” said Amarjit Singh of Kansala village.

GMADA officials, meanwhile, remained unavailable for comment.

Kharar Sub-Divisional Magistrate Gurmander Singh said, “The matter has been raised twice in high-level meetings. Hopefully, it will be resolved soon.”

Chandigarh