Staff Reporter
Dimapur, July 11 (EMN): Four persons, including a minor boy, were killed when a bridge constructed over Chathe river at 4th Mile Dimapur collapsed on Tuesday evening. The bridge connected Dimapur to Niuland sub-division and Kohuboto circle.
It was reported that the incident occurred between 5 to 5.30 pm on Tuesday. As news of the incident spread, within an hour, the location was swarmed by people from all over the town. Police and administration personnel – led by the deputy commissioner and the commissioner of police – were monitoring the aftermath of the tragedy till late Tuesday night.
“So far there are four casualties, two male and two female. All these casualties are reported to be non-Nagas, most probably they are Tripuris. One minor is included in this list of casualties”, DC Dimapur, Kesonyu Yhome told reporters at the site of tragedy.
He informed that the district authorities were yet to ascertain the accurate number of injured persons. “But we are hoping that there are not many serious cases of injury because most of the people who have been injured initially seem to have been given some first aid by the local community”.
According to the DC, the authorities were “assuming” that there were six vehicles stuck among the wreckage. The four victims were inside of those vehicles – likely an autorickshaw – stuck in the debris, he said.
“Let me also inform you that the bridge that has collapsed this evening has been under the scanner for a while, and there has also been some restriction put in place as far as plying of heavy vehicles is concerned. The department of Roads and Bridges, they have also issued a work order about two or three months back for dismantling of this standing bridge and replace it with a new RCC bridge,” the DC informed.
The contract for this work, he said, was allotted to Nagami Tech for Rs 37 crores. “So the contractors have also started a little initial work to place a subway but that has also been washed away very recently because of the volume and the current of the water.”
The construction firm was given 36 months to complete the new bridge, he added. “Unfortunately, before the works could commence this tragic incident has happened”.
An alternative route was being arranged towards Patkai-Seithekima area, the DC informed. “By this evening or tomorrow morning vehicles should be in a position to ply there”. Not less than hundred villages would be affected by the collapse of the bridge, according to the DC.
Explaining the collapse, he said: “There are five foundation pillars so one of the pillars, the third one which is little closer to the Niuland side, has moved most probably because of the intensity of the water current”.
He also informed that the district administration had received a complaint about the condition of the bridge from the residents of the locality in 2015 ‘that led to the district administration restricting movement of heavy vehicle’.
He did not rule out the possibility of the district administration opening an enquiry into the tragic incident.
ACAUT Nagaland issued a statement on Tuesday expressing anguish at the incident, and demanding the arrest of the minister for Roads and Bridges among others.
“This tragic and civic disaster is because of the sheer negligence and corruption on the part of the PWD (R&B), the government of Nagaland and the failure of the district administration to supervise the riverbeds.
“It is pertinent to mention here that the bridge has been declared a public hazard for a long time and the concerned authorities (sic) have been alerted on numerous occasions and were aware about the precarious condition of the bridge but did nothing about it”, it stated.
The anti-graft movement placed four demands to the state government including the arrest of the minister concerned, the executive engineer (PWD), Dimapur division, ‘the sand and gravel mafia including the contractors, and the village council authorities for allowing extraction of stones from the riverbeds’. The ACAUT has filed a first information report (FIR) in this regard at Diphupar police station, it was informed.
It also demanded the state government to pay adequate compensation to the victims’ families, set up a ‘High Powered Independent Inquiry Committee comprising of members of the public to probe the collapse of the bridge’, and the chief minister to “immediately sack the minister, Roads & Bridges, Vikheho Swu”.
