| Previous
Next
news
Under-construction Soan Bridge’s portion collapses in Rawalpindi
by Israr Ahmad June 27, 2023 in Regional, Islamabad
Rawalpindi-An under-construction portion of Soan Bridge near Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench on Monday collapsed, raising questions over the quality of construction.
Authorities said girders and piles of under construction Soan Bridge collapsed due to landsliding after a heavy rain hit the city last night flooding the Soan River. However, no causality or injury was reported.
The collapse of the bridge triggered a massive traffic jam on GT Road. The project of National Highway Authority (NHA) was executed by Frontier Works Organization (FWO). Under the project, the bridge is being extended 20 feet on both sides to ease the traffic. It is the part of Rs8 billion worth of road improvement project from Kutchery Chowk to T-Chowk Rawat.
City Traffic Police closed the damaged bridge for traffic movement and diverted the traffic coming from Rawat to Rawalpindi to alternative routes, according to traffic police spokesman SI Kashif Saroosh Chaudhry. Also, the officers of district government visited the place and monitored the situation.
According to details, a portion of under-construction Soan Bridge over Soan River caved in due to landsliding, raising the question over the quality of construction.
The collapse of the bridge triggered massive traffic jams on GT Road, Katchery Chowk, T Chowk and other adjoining roads.
A heavy contingent of local and traffic police, headed by CTO Taimoor Khan, rushed to the scene and ordered the closure of bridge for traffic. An expert team has been sent by the authorities to the site to probe the collapse.
Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatha told media that the project was being launched by NHA on Federal government funding and a pile of the under construction bridge collapsed due to designing problems as per initial report presented to him and he directed to hold inquiry in the matter on local level.
Later, the commissioner along with NHA and FWO representatives inspected the site and asked to repair the damage as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, torrential rain has paralysed normal life in the city. Waist deep water on many roads also caused troubles for traffic in late hours. Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) staffers, following the orders of Managing Director (MD) Muhammad Tanvir, remained present in flooded areas with heavy machinery to flush out the rain water. IESCO also suspended power supply while doubling the miseries of citizens.
Heavy rain paralysed life in Rawalpindi. The rain started at 2am and flooded roads and streets in the city.
Many late night travelers were left stranded at hospitals, airports, railways stations, offices and under the bridges.
The heavy downpour flooded tracks of the railway system, underpasses of Pirwadhai Mor, Committee Chowk and COD Road.
Rain water also inundated roads at Saddar, Katchery, Murree Road, Mareer Chowk, Soan, Peshawar Road, Pirwadhai, IJP Road and on Islamabad Expressway.
According to the Met Office, Saidpur Village received 47mm rain; Golra 55mm, Bokra 58mm; Shamasabad 52mm; PMD (H-8/2) 52mm and Chaklala received 62mm rain.
IESCO spokesman, on the other hand, said that several feeders and transformers developed faults due to heavy rain last night, causing power suspension in the region. He said that the WAPDA teams remained busy repairing the faults and power supply was restored at 4am. |
|
