Renovated wooden bridge over Barak River connecting Manipur & Nagaland opens for public

Imphal: A wooden bridge built over the Barak River on the Manipur-Nagaland border was opened to the public on Sunday. 

Travel time between Manipur and Nagaland through a narrow wooden bridge constructed over the Barak River at the Nallong village of Manipur’s Tamenglong district and Puilwa village in the Peren district of Nagaland has been shortened to a certain extent. 

Ahead of the monsoon seasons, this lifeline bridge was opened to tribal villagers residing between the villages of these two states on Sunday, reports said on Monday.

After passing through this bridge, the villagers of Nallong can reach Dimapur, the commercial hub of Nagaland within two to three hours by vehicle whereas the travel time between Imphal to Dimapur by road takes around 8-10 hours.

Though the governments of Nagaland and Manipur have so far neglected to make a suitable project for the construction of a modern bridge at this border to felicitate trade between the two states, the Nallong village authorities, clubs, students’ Union and District Commissioner of Tamenglong district with their financial assistance repaired this 353 feet long narrow and wooden bridge.

Qualified as a wooden bridge with its superstructure in wood, with the main load-bearing function taken up by beams or slabs, made primarily from wood, concrete foundations, supplementary supports of steel piers, or suspension structures with cables and steel hangers, this bridge is being treated as a lifeline by the pedestrians as Cycle Bridge and as a road bridge.

Meanwhile, the Nallong village authority, the Nallong Students’ Union, Manipur, and Nallong Youth Club, Manipur, on Monday expressed their deepest gratitude to the Deputy Commissioner of Tamenglong for his exceptional generosity in personally funding to repair 353 feet long lifeline wooden bridge over the Barak River connecting Nallong village in Manipur and Puilwa village in Nagaland.