The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Army restores Karaikal-Nagapattinam link

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 31, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Army restores Karaikal-Nagapattinam link

By R.K. Radhakrishnan

KARAIKKAL, DEC. 30. It took all of six hours for Army engineers to restore traffic across a span of a bridge washed away by the tsunami strike.

They built an 80-foot Bailey bridge working past midnight yesterday, after the equipment arrived from the Madras Engineering Group, Bangalore, and completed the job in record time. "The travel from Bangalore took 19 hours."

The Class nine bridge can withstand weights up to 40 tonnes and was put in record time following a request from the Pondicherry administration. "This is a very important bridge. This links Karaikal with Nagapattinam," said the Pondicherry Chief Minister, N. Rangasamy, who thanked the Southern Army Commander, B.S.Takhar, for the restoration work.

The Government had issued work orders to rebuild the Arasalaru bridge when the tsunami stuck, taking away one span of the bridge. "We will begin construction of a new bridge soon," the Chief Minister said.

In the morning some trucks had problems on the approaches. The Lt. Governor, M.M. Lakhera, who came to inspect the bridge asked if the slope of the bridge could be reduced. The officers promised to do it tonight. "I think may be because of the slope they [the trucks] might have a problem," he said.

The Southern Army Commander, after a visit of the affected areas in Cuddalore, Karaikkal and Nagapattinam, said that the need now was for reconstruction of the habitat. The immediate challenges being attended to include restoration of communication and road links, besides mitigation of health hazard.

Scale of destruction

As the Army Advanced Light Helicopter 1102 flies low over the coast from Chennai to Nagapattinam, the scale of destruction hits home. Nothing stands along the coast and there is not a fishing boat in the sea. The topography changes, but one scene does not change — that of flattened homes, uprooted poles, trees and debris.

`No delay'

The General Officer Commanding, Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka Area, Paramjit Singh, said that the crash group of the Army moved within two hours during emergencies and that there was no question of delaying assistance. "No clearance from New Delhi [is required] for natural calamities. [During] natural calamities the orders are get in touch with the State Government. Whatever the State Government wants, we do it straight away. No [other] permission is required," he said, emphasising that the Army had responded to any demand sought by the State Government.

The Army was put on alert as requested by the State Government at 1 p.m. on Sunday. It was later asked to help in removing bodies in Nagapattinam.

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