Kerala - Pathanamthitta   

PWD launches repair work on bridge

Staff Reporter

Embankment to be strengthened, work to be completed by Sunday

PATHANAMTHITTA: The Public Works Department (PWD) has started repair work on the approach road to the Kaippattoor bridge over Achenkoil river near here which caved-in on Tuesday morning.

PWD Assistant Executive Engineer Thomas Mathew who is supervising the work told The Hindu that pile driving of teak posts was under way to strengthen the embankment. Mr. Mathew said that the soil inside the rubble walls of the embankment eroded owing to the pressure of the water current formed in the vicinity. The incomplete check dam in the immediate downstream of the bridge had been altering the water current pattern in the vicinity since the past several years, posing threat to the safety of the bridge, he said.

Mr. Mathew said that the caved-in portion of the embankment would be filled with rubble with a layer of crushed granite and sand-soil mix on the top. The tarring of the surface would be held after ensuring proper settling, later, he added.

He said that not less than 100 lorry-loads of rubble would be piled up inside the caved-in portion of the embankment. Mr. Mathew said that round-the-clock repair work was in progress so as to complete it in the minimum possible time. He expressed hope that the work, with its present pace of progress would be completed by Sunday.

The former PWD Minister and Kerala Congress(Joseph) chairman P.J. Joseph visited the bridge on Wednesday.

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