The much awaited Gola motor bridge on the local Gola river in Haldwani which was collapsed due to flood in 2008, finally opened for the pedestrians here on Tuesday.

However, the said bridge is expected to be opened for the light mode vehicles only from August 10 and for heavy mode vehicles from August 20. The main advantage of making this bridge functional for public is that people living in Golapar and Chorgaliya areas would now have to travel about 10 km less to reach main Haldwani market.

Opening of the Gola bridge would definitely help people living in Golapar and Chorgaliya regions as they will now have to travel at least 10 km less to reach Haldwani, said Harish Chandra Durgapal, the Minister for Dairy Develop and labour,  who was present on the occasion of opening of the said bridge here on Tuesday. After inspecting the Gola bridge, the minister said that the bridge would be opened for light mode and heavy mode vehicles from August 10 and August 20 respectively.

The Minister  also stressed on the need to construct embankment along the Gola river to prevent cutting of land and asked the officials concerned to prepare proposals in this regard. Notably, keeping in view the delay in making bridge functional, the present Government had also given June 30 earlier as its opening deadline.

later, following slow progress of repair  works, July 30 was given as deadline at least  to  open the bridge for pedestrians. It is worth mention here that the  opening of the Gola bridge is vital not only for managing vehicular traffic, but also providing better transportation services to the local farmers.