BHOPAL: An eight-year-old dam constructed on River Seep has been swept away in floodwaters, inundating several villages in Soikala panchayat. Reports reaching here say that one of the villages, Mewada Kotha, was razed to the ground.
As many as half a dozen bridges on River Sindh and Seep have collapsed in the floods, some barely a few years old.
Extensive damage to the bridges and roads was reported from Gwalior and Chambal regions. A large chunk of AB Road near Shivpuri has caved in.
PWD minister Gopal Bhargawa told TOI, “I have constituted a committee of senior engineers to probe the collapse of the bridges. Five of them were on River Sindh in Datia and Bhind districts, while one was on Seep.” Heavy rainfall seems to be the main reason, he said.
Four of the bridges that collapsed were built in the last 12 years, and a fifth (in Sheopur) was built just eight years ago. The oldest bridge to crumble dates back 20 years.
Extensive damage was reported on the Kuno river in Sheopur connecting Shivpuri and Gwalior. “There is a gap of over 5-6 feet between the connecting road and the bridge”, government sources said, adding that even the authorities haven’t been able to visit the site.
There are also reports of breaches in bridges on Kwari river near Nepri village on NH552 and another bridge near Dimni, disrupting Morena’s connectivity with its tehsil towns of Sabalgarh, Dimni and Ambah.
Heavy rainfall wreaked havoc in Sheopur. Two bridges on Seep river were wrecked. One of them, connecting Sawaimadhopur district of Rajasthan, was washed away. Another bridge on Seep, connecting Soikala, was damaged extensively.
Sheopur is now connected only with Morena district, and cut off from the rest of the state.
