The problem is that there is no traffic signal to inform the driver
Vehicles weighing more than 40 tons will not be allowed to cross the Girubari Khola Bridge in Chormara, which was broken about a month ago due to heavy goods vehicles.
The traffic started on Friday evening after the bridge was broken a month ago due to overloaded vehicles. According to the road department, there is a risk of breaking the bridge again if vehicles carrying more than 40 tons are driven on the bridge which has been operated after
repair.
The road department has said that the bridge built 52 years ago is still in a dilapidated state, and the bridge may break again at any time when carrying vehicles with more weight than that.
The road department has posted signboards on both sides of the bridge and said that vehicles weighing more than 40 tons cannot be taken on Girbari river bridge in Chormara.
Near the bridge, there is still a possibility of heavy Indian vehicles passing by because Indian vehicle drivers do not understand the signs written in Nepali language in small letters. Due to the small letters written near the last pillar of the bridge, the driver is unable to recognize it.
Every day there are Indian vehicles carrying 40 tons or more.
The 216-meter-long iron bridge of Chormara river is being repaired, but traffic is being operated due to the dilapidated bridge. A month ago, the bridge was broken when there was a long traffic jam with heavy goods vehicles.
The contractor Tara Poudel informed that the bridge is still in a dangerous condition even though new iron plates have been replaced at the broken place. "Except for the repair, the risk remains the same because the bridge is dilapidated," Paudel said, "the new iron plate has not been replaced in the entire bridge, so the risk is increasing."
East Nawalparasi police chief Yadav Dhakal informed that the Girbari bridge has a carrying capacity of only 40 tons, so the police have been deployed to allow only one heavy goods vehicle to cross at a time. He said, 'The police will be deployed, but the road department is responsible for deploying people with red and blue flags there for 24 hours. It is the responsibility of the police to open the highway when it is jammed.' He said that the cargo truck will be moved through diversion for some time.
In the third week of June, the road department informed that the new concrete bridge being constructed near the Chormara bridge will be sloped.
In this section of the Mahendra Highway, long lorries carrying around 50, 60 tons of load from India are also passing by, so there is still a fear that when will the bridge break again.
