Tourist drives car on hanging bridge, stopped by locals and forced back

KARWAR: Close on the heels of the Morbi tragedy, a tourist attempted to drive his car on a cable-stayed bridge across the Kali river at Shivapura village in Yellapur taluk on Monday. However, he was forced back by locals.

The bridge is at a scenic spot and draws visitors.

The cable-stayed bridge has been constructed for pedestrian movement across the river. Being a scenic spot, the bridge draws numerous visitors.

Cable-stayed bridges are usually for pedestrian movement, while two-wheelers are pushed across.

On Monday, a car bearing Maharashtra registration plates attempted to cross the cable-stayed bridge, but was promptly stopped by locals and asked to reverse.

Reacting to the development, Uttara Kannada district in-charge minister Kota Srinivasa Poojary on Tuesday said he will hold a meeting with the district deputy commissioner and other elected representatives to conduct an audit of all the hanging bridges in the district and take up repair work wherever necessary.

District minister Kota Srinivasa Poojary said an audit of all hanging bridges in the district will be taken up.

Locals say there are about 7-8 cable-stayed bridges across the district, some of which are about 1.5 km long. These were built by the Karavali Development Board and later transferred to the respective gram panchayats. However, there has been no regular maintenance, they rued.