Suspension bridge over perilous waters

BY SHIVAKUMAR G. MALAGI
BELLARY

Following the demand of the people of Anegundi in Koppal district and Hampi-Kamalapur in Bellary district, the Veerappa Moily government decided to construct a bridge linking the two ancient sites; capital of Vijayanagar empire — Hampi to its cradle city — Anegundi across the river Tungabhadra.
When the work on the bridge was nearing completion in 2000, the UNESCO had threatened to remove Hampi from the world heritage site list if the government did not stop construction near the historic site. The UNESCO raised objections on the grounds that the location was not right for it and that the modern design would be an ‘eyesore’ to the world heritage site.
The UNESCO had also said that the completion of the bridge would result in the movement of heavy vehicular traffic, which could be detrimental to the ancient monuments at Hampi.
The threat to the historic monuments due to the construction of the bridge has caused a furore in the academic circles forcing the government to suspend construction.
Subsequently, government had decided to go ahead with the construction following the recommendations of the representative of the UNESCO, Kammier, who visited Hampi and took stock of the situation there.
Kammier, in his recommendation to the government, had suggested construction of a bypass around the historic Talavarghatta Gateway to prevent the movement of traffic through the gateway, which would damage the remnants of the protected monument.
UNESCO, in 2002, had given conditional clearance to the state government to go ahead with the construction of the NABARDassisted cable-stayed bridge, fifth of its kind in the country.
Cabinet meeting held in Gulbarga on September 26, 2008 had approved tender of Rs 6.60 crore for constructing remaining 24M length of bridge, which is about of total 226 meters (160 meters cable-stayed and 66 meters deck slab).
“Earlier, Rs 4.85 crore was spent on this project and the recent cabinet meeting held in Gulbarga approved tender of Rs 6.60 crore for the remaining work work, besides revising the estimate cost of the complete project upto Rs 11.48 crore”, said R.K. Mathad, junior engineer of PWD, Gangavati. Since a month, construction of the balance work was in full swing.
On Jan 16, Jayaram Raje Urs, secretary, department of Kannada and culture, said at a conference on “tangible and intangible heritage of Hampi’ at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) in Bengaluru that the government will redesign the hanging bridge at Hampi so as to protect the heritage monuments and temples. Before the proposed redesigning work commenced, the entire bridge is collapsed.