Bridge built in 16 crores caves in after 17 days in Dehradun; Char Dham Yatra suspended

Heavy rainfall since Monday night damaged the approach road to the newly constructed ₹16 crore bridge over the Tons River at Nanda Ki Chowki in Prem Nagar, disrupting traffic on the Dehradun–Paonta Sahib Highway just 17 days after the bridge was inaugurated. Officials clarified that the bridge itself remains structurally safe and that only the approach road had caved in. Dehradun District Magistrate Ashish Chauhan said the district administration activated its 24x7 control room following the heavy rain and deployed reinforcement teams to the site as restoration work began immediately.

The damage disrupted road connectivity between Dehradun, Vikasnagar and neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, prompting authorities to prioritise repairs to restore traffic movement. Chauhan said the bridge structure had not suffered any damage and that repair work on the approach road was already underway. The bridge had been inaugurated on July 12 after being constructed as a replacement for the previous bridge, which was washed away during last year's monsoon.

The replacement bridge was built by the Public Works Department with funding from the National Highways Authority of India after the earlier bridge at Nanda Ki Chowki collapsed in September last year. Following that incident, a temporary Hume-pipe bridge was installed to restore connectivity, but it also collapsed after a dumper truck attempted to cross it. Officials said the latest damage was caused by persistent monsoon rainfall, while restoration work on the affected approach road continues.