Recently washed 83 years old Chakki Railway Bridge seems not flooded easily in the political arena. State BJP vice-president and former Rajya Sabha MP Kirpal Parmar has alleged that Chakki railway bridge on the Pathankot-Jogindernagar railway line collapsed after unabated illegal mining along the Chakki river bed and blamed Railway Department officials for their negligence and nexus with the mining mafia operating in that area.
Addressing mediapersons at Jassur near here today, he said the Railway Department had recently spent Rs 1 crore on the maintenance and repair of the pillars of the bridge, but even then it could not be saved. He demanded a high-level probe into it.
Parmar said in the state-level grievances committee’s meeting in July 2010, the issue of illegal mining along the Chakki river bed and its repercussions on the railway bridge had been highlighted and the CM had issued strict instruction to curb this menace, but the authorities had not adhered to the government orders.
