Padma Bridge off limits to motorcycles

The Bridges Division last evening banned motorcycles on the Padma Bridge from 6:00am today as thousands of bikers queuing up to cross the bridge overwhelmed the toll plaza employees and two bikers died in a crash on the bridge.

The Press Information Department issued a circular in this regard hours after the long-cherished bridge was opened to traffic at 6:00am yesterday.

"We have made the decision for the safety of travellers and the bridge," Monjur Hossain, secretary of the Bridges Division, told The Daily Star last night.

Two men died after their motorcycle crashed on the bridge between the pillar no 26 and 27 around 8:00pm, said SM Mizanur Rahman, additional superintendent of police in Shariatpur, adding that the man riding the bike was filming with one hand.

Alamgir Hossain, 25, and Fazlu, 24, were pronounced dead after they were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital around around 10:30pm, said Inspector Bachchu Mia, in-charge of hospital's police outpost.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday inaugurated the bridge and the authorities opened it to traffic at 6:00am yesterday.Officials said many of the motorcyclists stopped in the middle of the bridge to take pictures, disrupting traffic flow.

Secretary Monjur said mobile courts would be conducted on the bridge from today and army personnel would be on vigil.

"The court will take punitive action if anyone stops a vehicle and gets down on the bridge, violating government directives. The court will also seize such vehicles," the secretary said.

Meanwhile, the Padma Bridge project authorities asked the engineering support and safety team to beef up vigilance on the upper deck of the bridge and on both sides.

Project Director Shafiqul Islam yesterday told this newspaper that he sent a letter to the chief coordinator ofthe team in this regard.

Bangladesh Army is providing the engineering support and safety service for the project.

In his letter, Shafiqul said some individuals were stealing and damaging important equipment from the bridge deck, even as getting down from vehicles on the bridge was prohibited.

Some of them even damaged equipment at Mawa and Zanjira ends of the bridge, he wrote.

Earlier in the day, the Criminal Investigation Department arrested a young man seen removing nuts and bolts from the guard rails of Padma Bridge in a viral video.