Pillar of Dodhara-Chandani suspension bridge over Mahakali collapses, study begins

Traffic between Bhimdatta Municipality and Dodhara-Chandani Municipality has come to a complete halt after a pillar of the Dodhara-Chandani suspension bridge over the Mahakali river in Kanchanpur broke.

According to the District Police Office, Kanchanpur, the pillar on the Dodhara side collapsed on Wednesday morning after the river's flow increased. Police said about 5 to 6 meters of the bridge has lifted upward, making it risky even to walk across. Deputy Superintendent of Police Tek Bahadur Rawat said a police team has been mobilized to the site.

Chief District Officer Madan Koirala said a technical study would be conducted to determine how the bridge was damaged. According to Jagat Prasad Joshi, director of the Transport Infrastructure Directorate of Sudurpashchim Province, a technical team including suspension bridge expert engineer Prakash Bam has begun an on-site study.

Chief Minister Khagraj Bhatt and a team from the provincial Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development have also gone to the bridge site for monitoring. Kanchanpur-3 lawmaker Gyanendra Singh Mahat raised the issue in the House of Representatives, demanding that the bridge be brought back into operation immediately. According to him, the flood damaged the bridge's central tower block and spur area, affecting about 75 meters of the structure.

Nepali Congress leader Ramesh Lekhak urged the government to begin reconstruction as soon as possible. Nearly one and a half kilometers long, the bridge is known as the second-longest suspension bridge in Asia. Built about two decades ago, it directly connected Dodhara-Chandani with the rest of the country.