A steel belay bridge will be constructed on the Tilabe River near the approach road of the Gandak Canal, which was damaged by last year's flood.

According to Narayani Irrigation Management Office Birgunj Engineer Suresh Prasad Sah, the road department is about to install a steel bridge over the river. For this, the road department has called a tender and the tender process has been completed. 

The road department has called for a tender of 33 million rupees including value added tax for the construction of the bridge. Medant/Mohammed Islam, a joint venture company, has accepted the tender for the construction of the bridge for 317 million rupees .  According to the technical design given by the

office, the road department called for the tender for the Bely Bridge. "Now the contractor company will do the work of Beilibridge connection," he said.

The RCC bridge of the Tilabe river near the canal was damaged by the heavy flood that occurred in the month of June last year . One pillar of the bridge was completely damaged and another partially damaged. Along with the pillar, the floor of the bridge has also been damaged. Since the siphon of the river and the bridge are connected, after the pillar of the bridge was damaged, the floor was also damaged. This bridge, which is about 70 meters long, also serves as the border of Birgunj Metropolitan Municipality and Bahadurmai Municipality.

Narayani Irrigation Management Office has stopped traffic from the bridge in view of the possible danger after the pillar of the bridge was damaged. But pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are still using this bridge. If the use of the bridge is not stopped, there is a possibility of a major accident anytime. 

If this bridge is further damaged, there is a possibility that the siphon of the Gandak Canal will also be damaged and the canal system will be completely blocked, says Engineer Shah.

More 2 dozen bridges of canal dilapidated

Due to lack of regular maintenance, more two dozen bridges in Parsa-Bara under Gandak canal have become dilapidated . There are 26 small and big bridges on the canals in both the districts, among them Bangri Khola in Feta Rural Municipality of Bara, Sirsia Khola in Virgunj Metropolitan Municipality of Parsa and Oriya Khola in Jagarnathpur Rural Municipality are very dilapidated. There is a risk that the bridge may collapse at any time because there are holes in those bridges. 

In 1975 and 1976, the Government of India constructed and handed over the Gandak Canal and the structures connected to it to the Government of Nepal. The canal that enters Nepal from Janaki Tola in Parsa and merges with Bagmati in Rautahat is called East Canal. This 81 km long canal had the goal of irrigating 31,400 hectares of land in 3 districts namely Parsa, Bara and Rautahat at that time. 

The Indian side releases water into the canal from the barrage built on the Nepal-India border at Bhainsalotan in Nawalparasi. After traveling 92 km in India, this canal enters Nepal from Jankitola in Parsa.

The approach road built along the canal and the bridge on that road have been used by the residents of all the three districts as an alternative to the postal road. The federal government has also paved the approach road from Rautahat to Parsa. But in this process, dilapidated bridges were not repaired or new bridges were constructed in place of three. After the road has been paved, the use of this road has increased. This has increased the load on dilapidated bridges . 

This road connects all three districts after the Hulaki road, so this road and  The bridge in it has great importance for the residents of all three districts. This road has proved to be very useful for the daily movement of the general public and for the farmers who sell agricultural produce. 

In Jagarnathpur area in Birgunj, after a decade and a half of rapid industrialization, a large number of cargo vehicles pass through this road. Since the Sirsia river bridge in that area is very weak, there is a possibility that even the industrial area will be affected if the bridge collapses.