Incessant rains in Himachal Pradesh have led to overflowing rivers, including the Swan river in district Ropar, which is in spate. The gushing water in the ‘sorrow of Una’ washed away a temporary bridge today that connected almost 100 villages to the Anandpur Sahib-Garhshankar road. The bridge was built on the riverbed at the Algran village.
With a ‘pucca’ bridge over the Swan river lying damaged for over two years, people will be forced to take a 50 km detour via Nangal to travel to Anandpur Sahib.
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With villagers from nearby gathering near the washed-away bridge to assess the situation, many lamented the inconvenience they have to face each year because of the rains, especially students studying in schools and colleges in Anandpur Sahib.
Although the river has never breached its banks, fear looms large in villagers living near its banks.
Back in 2023, the bridge was damaged by the overflowing river in the monsoons, exposing even its foundation pillars inside the riverbed. Locals accused sand mafia for the damage to the bridge, saying illegal mining along the river was rampant in both Swan and Sutlej riverbeds.
With the pillars of the bridge over the Sutlej too being damaged, the drainage department was prompted to construct embankments to protect the bridge in the monsoons while the PWD had floated a tender of ₹17 crore for the repair.
But, work on the bridge can only begin commence after the monsoons.
The Himachal government has channelled the 40-km river stretch in its area, but in Punjab, where it merges with the Sutlej near Anandpur Sahib, it remains unchannelled, causing the river to overflow during the monsoons and damaging crops in Nangal and Anandpur Sahib subdivisions in Ropar.
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