PATNA: If everything goes well, Bihar will soon become the first state to have 'health cards' and safety audit reports of bridges.
The state government is planning to take safety audits and prepare 'health cards' of over 2200 bridges, including the existing ones, in order to keep them standing for decades.
Sharing all these facts on Friday evening at a two-day national workshop on "Major Bridges In Bihar: Innovation and Challenges", Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said that the proposed health cards and safety audit process will help the department of bridge construction in carrying out timely technical maintenance and repair works after detecting signs of stress in the bridges.
He asked the officials to prepare also a book of protocol to be maintained during the repairing or de-stressing the bridges.
"It is good that a bridge management system is in the offing under which inspection of all mega bridges would be carried out", Nitish Kumar said, adding that a dedicated wing for the maintenance work of bridges should also be created.
Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, speaking on the subject, said that over 2200 bridges have been built in the past 15 years of NDA rule. "Now, the Bihar Pool Nigam Ltd has achieved a turn over of Rs 1600 crore", he added.
He also informed that 12 new bridges are under construction in the state across many rivers including the Ganga.