Team Herald 

PONDA: At least a 10-metre portion of the dilapidated Portuguese-era bailey bridge at Borim and its three columns collapsed on Friday night.

Locals say that the surviving portion of the bridge is in a precarious condition and it might collapse at any time, hence, a constant danger to fishermen and sand extractors. For this reason, the locals have demanded immediate demolition of the bridge.

Local fishermen and sand extractors said that they were working at the site till 8 pm on Friday night and that the bridge was standing intact till then. “When we returned today morning, a 10-metre portion of the bridge was missing. An ore carrying barge might have rammed against the bridge causing it to collapse,” said a fisherman.

Until thirty years ago when a huge barge damaged it rendering the structure unusable, the Portuguese-era bridge was an important artery connecting Panjim with Ponda.  

Former Borim sarpanch Sunil Savkar said that two spans and three pillars of the broken bridge collapsed on Friday night. “Since the incident occurred at night, no one was injured,” he said.

He said that the government should demolish the remaining portion of the bridge which is on the verge of collapse to prevent any untoward incident as many workers extract sand near the broken bridge.

Savkar said that the existing Borim Bridge frequently requires maintenance and repairs, causing severe inconvenience to motorists, as such, he suggested that a new bridge in place of the bailey bridge should be constructed to ease the pressure on Borim bridge.