The iconic 70-year-old, 1,500-feet long Howrah Bridge — officially known as Rabindra Setu and the world’s sixth-longest cantilever bridge built without a single screw — is rotting, thanks to gutkha-chewers. The 26,500-tonne steel bridge, which connects the twin cities of Howrah and Kolkata and is used by over 500,000 pedestrians and over 110,000 vehicles a day, is held by hangers on each side. According to the Kolkata Port Trust, which spent ₹2.57 crore in FY13 for maintaining the bridge, gutkha-laced spit has corroded the 6 mm thick steel plates in the hangers by almost 50%. The trust has now decided to spend an additional ₹15 lakh to cover the base of the 86 hangers with fibre-glass hoods to prevent further decay. The trust hopes to generate revenues by renting out advertising space on the hoods.
Story in Pictures
Spit and span
Why Kolkata’s Howrah Bridge needs to be covered with fibre-glass hoods
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