www.expressindia.com - Weather | Horoscope | Stocks | RSS
expressindia web city
HomeBlogsCricketAstrology TendersClassifieds Reader Comments Hotels
Sign In / Register | Archive
Expressindia » Story

Morbi’s historic ‘Julto Pul’ to re-open in last week of Jan

Font Size

Express news service

Posted: Jan 05, 2008 at 0000 hrs IST

Rajkot, January 4 The historic Julto Pul (hanging bridge) of Morbi will be thrown open to the public, in the last week of January, after a gap of nearly three decades. The repair and renovation work on this engineering marvel, inspired by the famous Hanging Bridge of London, is on the verge of completion.

Spanning the Machuchu River, it is one of the few hanging structures in India. It was constructed of special teak wood, iron and wires imported from England by the erstwhile ruler of Morbi, Thakore Vaghe, some 180 years back.

Due to its unique design and cultural value, the bridge has almost become synonymous with the industrial town of Morbi in Rajkot district.

The bridge connecting Barbargadh Palace to Nazarbaug was in operation till 1979 when a devastating cyclone struck this town. Since then, several repairs have taken place, but due to its deteriorating condition, the Rajkot district administration closed the bridge to save this famous Saurashtra landmark from complete collapse.

The Rajkot collectorate's call for the public-private participation for the renovation of Julto Pul received a favourable response from the Morbi-based Ajanta Group, who are among the country's leading wall-clock and tile manufacturers.

"The Julto Pul is being renovated at a cost of Rs 1 crore. The entire expense has been borne by the Ajanta Group. This time, superior quality material has been used to give the bridge at-least 10 years’ relief from wear and tear," said Rajkot District Collector Pradeep Sharma.

Sharma said over 90 per cent of the repair work has been completed and the Julto Pul is likely to be reopened for the public from January 27. The district administration is, however, yet to decide whether to declare it as a tourist site, or to open it for regular traffic. "It is yet to be decided whether it should be reopened just as a tourist site or also allow commuters on the bridge," said Sharma

The Julto Pul was constructed over a span of four years starting 1883. The bridge is 756-feet long and 4.6-feet wide. The main wooden lane has now been replaced with aluminium composite sheet, which is not only durable, but more lightweight compared to teak. The wooden support beams have also been replaced with weatherproof aluminium channels. To give it a complete weatherproof effect, the sheets and channels are being coated with high temperature aluminium paint.

Discuss this story on expressindia forums
Post Comments
Name* Email ID*
Subject* Country*
Message*
Characters remaining
 
TERMS OF USE: The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s).
I agree to the terms of use.

Latest News

Business

Showbiz

Sports

Rushdie cancels India visit, says 'paid assassins' out to kill him

Narendra Modi takes Sadbhavna Mission to Godhra

Age row: SC dismisses appeal supportive of Army chief's view

Law Commission for making honour killings non-bailable offence

Oz MP tells immigrants to learn English to stop racism

Uma Bharti's comments on Rahul not important: Azad

Digvijay rubbishes reports of quitting as UP poll in-charge

More
© 2011 The Indian Express Limited. All rights reserved
Advertise With Us | Privacy Policy | Feedback | Express Group | Site Map