Pillars of under-construction railway bridge go under water in Prayagraj, authorities sound alert

Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) authorities have urged the Prayagraj district administration to stop people from venturing near the under-construction second railway bridge over Ganga as some of the pillars have gone under water following rise in level of both Ganga and Yamuna.

Vinay Kumar Agarwal, project director of RVNL, which is the construction agency for the bridge, said: “We have written to the district magistrate of Prayagraj that since flood water is flowing over the pillars, no one should be allowed to venture in the area between the existing bridge and the one we are constructing. Be it boatmen, cattle crossing the river or even young boys who indulge in adventure, coming near the pillars or attempting to cross them could be dangerous and fatal and as such there is immediate need to keep a strict vigil on any movement in the area.”

This 1920-m long second railway bridge over Ganga would be an “open web bridge” and is being constructed at a total estimated cost of ₹499 crore. It would connect Daraganj with Jhunsi and is being constructed as the present bridge is over 110-year-old. The second bridge has 25 pillars of which many have got submerged in the swollen river.

Besides, RVNL officials said the pace of construction work was also scaled down due to overflowing rivers.

In charge of jal police, Kade Deen Yadav said, “We are ensuring that no one goes near the pillars of the under-construction bridge and apart from keeping a strict vigil, we would also be soon putting up air-balloons on the pillars so that people would be aware of the presence of the water submerged pillars there.”

To note, RVNL had earlier hogged the limelight in 2021 when they had uprooted a huge peepal tree, which was coming in the way of construction of one of the pillars of this new railway bridge, and replanted it around 50 meters away in the nearby village. Not only the tree survived but the authorities saved another 10 healthy trees that were standing at the plot where the office of RVNL was to be setup.

The authorities had reduced the size of the office area in such a way that none of the trees had to be cut down and in fact at a place, they even constructed the office roof in a manner that it didn’t came in the way of the thick trunk of a healthy tree.