Udupi: Days after its opening, Karnataka’s first floating bridge at Malpe Beach in Udupi collapsed. Last Friday, Udupi MLA Raghupati Bhat officially opened the bridge (May 6). The floating bridge’s work has been halted after it was partially destroyed on Sunday owing to cyclonic weather.
This floating bridge was claimed to have cost Rs. 80 lakh and was meant to help the state’s tourism business. Netizens have gone to social media to express their concerns about the vulnerability of the system.
The tragedy occurred a day after severe rains pounded Bengaluru, uprooting trees, flooding roads, and destroying infrastructure around the city, including the freshly inaugurated Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium in the HSR project.
This initiative was taken up by a team from Hanuman Vittoba Bhajan Mandali, according to reports.
Because the bridge is not permanently attached, it can be readily relocated. It has now brought up the issue of safety.
The bridge is 100 meters long and three meters broad, with a capacity of roughly 100 people strolling across it. Tourists would be limited to only 15 minutes on the bridge.
After a recent tragedy at St Mary’s Island, when two students drowned while snapping photographs, Deputy Commissioner M Kurma Rao and other officials met and evaluated the bridge’s security, according to The New Indian Express.
It was disassembled to avert damage to the bridge during cyclonic weather on Sunday, according to leaseholder Sudesh Shetty.
It remains to be seen how the concerned authorities will reconstruct the bridge and convince tourists of its safety.
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