Pilibhit: The district administration on Saturday closed the Pilibhit-Uttarakhand interstate highway--passing through Madhotanda--after cracks appeared in the 74.8-meter-long bridge over the Sharda River's feeder canal, known as the Hardoi branch. The bridge-- built in 1920 during the British era and was assessed to have a lifespan of 100 years--has affected both traffic and Pilibhit Tiger Reserve's ecotourism.
A team from the district administration, police, and irrigation department quickly acted to construct a barrier wall to prevent both light and heavy traffic from using the damaged bridge.
Executive engineer of Bareilly-based head-works division, Rajiv Kumar Singh told TOI that he would write a letter to the Pilibhit-based executive engineer of PWD Rajesh Chaudhary for the construction of a new bridge over the feeder canal, as the effective life period of the bridge had expired. "In fact, our department cannot vie with PWD over the issue of expertise in bridge construction. This is why the PWD would be urged to take up the project," Singh said.
Chaudhary, in response, said he would refer the matter to higher PWD officials to plan the new bridge, including preparing a proposal and budget.

Since the closed road is a key route to the Chuka ecotourism site in the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, the divisional forest officer urged tourists to use an alternative entry at the Mahof forest range headquarters to avoid disruptions as the ecotourism is feared to be affected adversely due to the closure.
Sub-divisional magistrate of Kalinagar circle Devendra Kumar said, "Light vehicles, including bikes and cars, have been diverted to the Pilibhit-Uttarakhand interstate highway through village Piparia Santosh, which bypasses the damaged bridge, while the heavy traffic will be rerouted through Bhind-Lipulekh NH 731 via Pilibhit district headquarters."
Notably, a series of nine road bridges were constructed on this feeder canal at different spots within the periphery of Pilibhit district in 1920. The canal flows over a length of 350 kilometres between its head point at the Indo-Nepal border in the Banbasa area in district Champawat of Uttarakhand and the tail point at district Hardoi in UP.
Of these bridges, one bridge, on the Pilibhit-Shahjahanpur highway near Maqsudapur, was damaged 10 years ago, while another, on the Pilibhit-Basti NH 730 near village Udaikaranpur, decayed around six years ago. The construction work of new bridges at both sites is still in progress.
"We will recommend the construction of new bridges at all remaining seven locations of 105-year-old bridges to avert any probable disastrous situation," Rajiv Kumar Singh added.