Pune, Jun 16 (PTI) A day after four people died and 18 persons were injured in a bridge collapse on the Indrayani river in Pune's Maval tehsil, the district administration on Monday decided to dismantle or remove all bridges deemed unfit for use.
The bridge that collapsed on Sunday afternoon in Kundamala area was built in 1993 and was not fit for use, but people who gathered there ignored warning signboards and more than 100 got on to the structure, officials said.
"Taking note of the incident, we have now decided to remove or dismantle such bridges in the district as putting up barricading etc does not serve the purpose. Visitors, tourists generally do not pay heed and bypass these barricading and endanger their lives. We have identified such structures in the district and following a final survey, these structures will be removed once and for all," Collector Jitendra Dudi said.
Dudi said the tender for a new bridge to come up in place of the one that eventually collapsed was floated some months ago, while the work order was issued a week ago.
It takes 15 days to start the work from the day of the work order so its construction will begin shortly, he added.
"Prohibitory orders have already been issued in some of the regions which are frequented by the tourists during the monsoon. We had a meeting today and in that meeting instructions have been issued to the concerned circles to ensure these orders are implemented properly," he said.
Meanwhile, the search operation at the site drew to a close on Monday evening.
While the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) had called of its search earlier, police had continued with the operation.
"Our operation stopped this evening as all persons are accounted for with regards to the collapse," a police official said.