Bailey bridge by next month.

The proposed Bailey bridge across the Kallada river at Enathu will be ready by the second week of April and the government has started making arrangements to open the bridge on April 10, Works Minister G. Sudhakaran has said.

The Minister was inspecting the abutments on either bank of the river for erecting the Bailey bridge on Monday.

The engineering wing of the Indian Army is erecting the bridge.

The Minister said that 20 trucks carrying iron girders and other parts of the bridge from Jodhpur and Secunderabad were expected to reach Enathu by Tuesday evening.

He said the Army officers had promised to complete the bridge in two weeks once the materials arrived.

Mr. Sudhakaran said the Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP) had constructed the abutments on both banks of the river and construction

of the approach road on both sides too was progressing.

The government decision to construct a Bailey bridge was to address the immediate travel needs of the people by facilitating at least light motor vehicle traffic on it. The concrete bridge at Enathu was closed for heavy vehicular traffic on January 10 evening following detection of cracks.

The Minister said the report submitted by the expert panel on the damage to the concrete bridge did not find any defect with the well foundation of the concrete piers of the bridge.

Mr. Sudhakaran said the repair work on 314 bridges that required minor repairs across the State would be completed in a time-bound manner.

Chittayam Gopakumar, and Aysha Potti, MLAs; P.K. Satheesan, KSTP Chief Engineer; S. Deepu, Superintending Engineer; and Geetha, Executive

THE HINDU