A bridge over the Budhabalanga river is facing time as well as cost overrun as the project is moving at a snail’s pace. The tardy progress of work has irked the residents of the district.
The bridge construction with an estimation of about Rs 28 crore on the river near Fuladi began in December 2015 with a target of completion by May 2017.
Despite lapse of period and further consumption of time, the progress is just up to two pillars. The bridge construction was necessitated as the old British time bridge had become unsafe .
The old bridge still acts as lifeline of Baleswar district as it connects the north Baleswar with the district headquarters town.
More than 100 years ago, the bridge was constructed on the Old trunk road (JagannathSadak) to provide commuters only a direct link between north Baleswar, including Basta, Jaleswar and Bhograi and the district headquarters town, when no other roads were available .
Since, the bridge had turned dilapidated and unsafe, proposal of construction of another bridge was considered.The old bridge while still was operative, yet movement of heavy vehicles was restricted.
Due to the restriction, most of the vehicles take a diversion through Remuna Golai to enter Baleswar town.
Hundreds of vehicles ply through Naharpatana and Remuna Golai to come to Baleswar town covering a diversion of about 5-6 km.
The new bridge measuring about 210 metre length and 10 metrewidth had a target of completion within 30 months.The bridge would have approach roads about 100 metre on either sides.
Executive Engineer, Works, Mahesh Kumar Mohanty mentioned several reasons including high tide river condition for not meeting the deadline.
“Since the river is high tide, one technical difficulty is constructing well to a depth of 40 metre in the river bed . Further, frequent floods in the river are hampering the progress.
Besides local miscreants are stealing construction materials. However, there wouldn’t be much delay as the work of middlepillar is almost completed,” informed Mohanty.
