(a) whether the Khanna Committee had prepared a report on the
dangerous railway bridges which have outlived their load
bearing capacity;
(b) if so, the details of the report presented by the said
committee;
(c) the details of the action taken thereon, bridge-wise; and
(d) if not, the categorical reasons therefor?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI R. VELU)
(a) to (d): A statement is attached.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2560 BY SHRI GANESH SINGH TO BE
ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 16-12-2004 REGARDING KHANNA
COMMITTEE REPORT ON DANGEROUS BRIDGES.
(a) to (d): Khanna Committee (1999) in their report had
recommended that distressed bridges, bridges over 100 years
in age and Early Steel bridges should be further inspected
by Task Force (Senior Administrative grade level). No
specific list of bridges was mentioned by Committee in
their report. However, Committee had noted about 262
distressed bridges existed on Indian Railway as on 1.4.99.
In pursuance of their recommendation, all above distressed
bridges were got inspected by Territorial Chief Engineers
of the Railways and their rehabilitation/rebuilding taken
up. The activity of rehabilitation/rebuilding of these
distressed bridges and fresh accruals has got a fillip
since the sanction of Special Railway Safety Fund (SRSF) in
2001-02 and a total of 927 distressed bridges have been
rebuilt/rehabilitated in last five years.