Ritika
Nagpur, There is a saying that an old person and an old house should not be disturbed beyond limits. However, the city is not even afraid of trampling the dilapidated Ajni bridge, which is more than 125 years old. Every day thousands of vehicles are passing through the Ajni bridge which has completed its life many years ago. This scene is such that the strength of the bridge is being tested every day. On the other hand, the process of the proposed new bridge is going so slowly that the residents may have to wait for another 12 years.
Jam and load of more than 100 vehicles
In view of the dilapidated condition of the bridge, the administration has completely stopped the movement of heavy goods vehicles from here. To stop them, small pillars have been buried on both sides of the bridge, but the treatment adopted by the administration is beyond understanding. There is a jam here almost every 10 to 20 minutes. Especially between 9 to 11 in the morning and 5 to 9 in the evening, the traffic system gets overwhelmed. This is the time for people to go to work and return. During this, in the event of a jam, more than 100 small vehicles stand on the bridge from both sides. Looks like the bridge’s bearing capacity is being tested
Lots of potholes, traffic sick at both ends
The pillars alone are not responsible for the load bearing capacity test of Ajni Bridge. The administration has entrusted this responsibility to the hundreds of small and big pits built on the bridge. Due to these potholes, vehicles are not able to gallop and it takes 3 to 5 minutes for the vehicle to cross the bridge in 1 minute. Because of this, there is a queue of vehicles. At the same time, the entire situation is ready to spoil the traffic system on both the ends of the bridge. As soon as you cross the bridge towards Ajni Colony, you meet the divider of the cement road, then a tri-junction is made together towards the jail. The movement of vehicles continues continuously from Ajni station, Ajni Chowk and Jail Chowk. If even one vehicle stops, then the whole traffic gets sick.
… then the great destruction is fixed
Just below the above bridge is the main route of Central Railway Nagpur division. Trains going towards Mumbai, Chennai, Howrah and Delhi routes pass from here. Once every year some part of the layer of the bridge falls on the railway track and then the review of the dilapidated condition of the bridge starts.
However, the result of the review remains the same every time that work should be done from the bridge for a few days. This result is to ignore the strength of those pillars of the bridge which have been bearing the weight of the bridge made of stones for almost 125 years before independence. Even after independence, in the name of improvement, its weight was further increased by getting the works of cement construction done, from laying asphalt many times. There is no doubt that if the Ajni bridge, which has reached a dilapidated condition than the old house, fails in its test, there will be great destruction on that day.
