The government has denied in Parliament that it has decided to sell various old railway bridges as scrap and clarified that unserviceable released parts of the bridges, such as steel girders etc., are disposed of as scrap.

In a written reply to questions from YSR Congress Party MP Parimal Nathwani in the Rajya Sabha that whether the government has decided to sell old bridges as scrap in various parts of the country, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently answered in the negative.

"The unserviceable released parts of the bridges, namely steel girders etc., are disposed of as scrap to realise the value for released material," he added.

Nathwani had further asked whether the government had to put off the decision with regard to certain bridges owing to a public outcry.

Vaishnaw said in some cases, the abandoned railway bridges are handed over to the state government concerned on its request for using it for tourism purposes, as was done in the case of the Godavari bridge (Havelock bridge) in Andhra Pradesh and Curzon bridge in Uttar Pradesh.

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