National
Larcha bridge topples weeks before opening
An under construction Bailey bridge over the Bhotekoshi river in Larcha, Sindhupalchok, collapsed on Tuesday.Anish Tiwari
An under construction Bailey bridge over the Bhotekoshi river in Larcha, Sindhupalchok, collapsed on Tuesday.
The Rs 20 million bridge linking bordering area of Tatopani with the Kathmandu gave way just when its construction was at final stages.
The bridge was due to open shortly.
The bridge construction was commissioned at the same location where a landslide in July 2017 had destroyed the previous bridge.
Bhagwati Construction Company was contracted to construct the bridge. The work began from August 2017.
According to Raj Kumar Paudel, chairperson of Bhotekoshi Rural Municipality, the bridge collapsed because its foundation was weak. He accused the engineers and contractor of negligence.
Mukesh Panta, chief of Bhagwati Construction Company, claimed that there had been no negligence on the company’s part.
Just a week ago, local residents had staged a demonstration blaming the contractor of building weak support walls for the bridge.
They also accused the contractor of giving little attention to the bridge, because he was reportedly spending most part of his time in Araniko Highway repair project.