NAWABSHAH, Dec 24: The railway overhead bridge in Nawabshah is in a dilapidated condition due to lack of maintenance for the last 15 years.

The proposal to construct railway overhead bridge matured in the first government of Peoples Party and PC-I, with an estimated cost of Rs85 million, was also approved. However, the construction work started in the interim government with Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi as caretaker prime minister and later it was inaugurated by the then Sindh chief minister Syed Muzaffar Shah in 1993.

The bridge connects new and old Nawabshah which have been divided by main railway line. Heavy traffic, including trailers and trucks, moving towards Sanghar, Shahdadpur as well as to the adjoining sugar mills, also cross over to old and new Nawabshah several times a day via this bridge due to which the road had been damaged at a number of points.

Almost all the expansion joints on both the tracks of the bridge has developed ditches and the road had also been damaged due to lack of maintenance for long time. The devastated road was not only damaging the vehicles but was also increasing accident risks.A number of motorcyclists had slipped from the expansion joints ditches and received injuries no one from the provincial, district government and the railway authority had taken notice.

No department, including Pakistan Railways, provincial highways, district roads and TMA Nawabshah claims to be the custodian of the bridge due to which no major maintenance work could be carried out for the last 15 years.

Sitting MNA Faryal Talpur in her first tenure as district nazim of Nawabshah took notice of the ditches between the expansion joints and the road and directed the district roads department for its immediate repairs.

The roads department did not take the directive of the district nazim seriously and a minor repair was carried out through a contractor who filled the ditches between expansion joints with charcoal which could not sustain the vehicular pressure for a longer period.

The Taluka Nazim of Nawabshah Abdul Rauf Khan told this correspondent that they had not handed over the custody of the railway overhead bridge. However, being the custodian of town, they were concerned about it. He further said that the TMA Nawabshah had installed streetlights as well as carried a white wash on both side of walls of the bridge. He said that TMA was ready to take it over and also take the responsibility of repair and maintenance of the bridge.

The Executive District Officer Works and Services, Perumal also expressed his ignorance regarding the custody or ownership of the railway bridge. He said that the district roads department was not handed over charge of the bridge by the railway authorities, however, it was once repaired by roads department, which was only be complimentary.

When contacted, the Executive Engineer provincial roads, Pir Baqi, said that the bridge was constructed by the railways however they were not given charge for its maintenance or repair officially.

Divisional Superintendent of Railways Sukkur Division, G.M Qureshi, however, said that the bridge was constructed by the railways with the partnership of highways department and it was handed over to the highways department for repair and maintenance at the time of inauguration.