Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik would inaugurate the much-delayed Gurupriya Bridge in Malkangiri district in June. The bridge is expected to improve vehicular communications between the Maoist-infected district’s cutoff region and the mainland.
The project is nearly complete barring a few minor touches, informed Works Minister Prafulla Mallick after a performance review meeting of the Works Department presided over by the Chief Minister on Monday.
The 910-meter-long Bridge is expected to solve the communication problems of around 30,000 residents of nearly 150 villages in the cutoff region in and around the Kalimela and Chitrakonda reservoirs.
Besides, it would assist the security forces in launching anti-Maoist operations in the cutoff region, which has become a safe haven for the Red rebels from the neighbouring States of Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.
So, it is no surprise that Maoists have been opposing theridge construction from the project’s inception.
Keeping in view the Maoist threat, security has been beefed up near the bridge by the BSF and the State police. Round-the-clock surveillance is being carried out through CCTV cameras for security of the bridge. Security personnel are also patrolling in motorboats in the reservoirs and keeping an eye on suspicious elements.
The foundation-stone for the bridge had been laid in 1982 by the then Chief Minister JB Patnaik and again by Naveen Patnaik in 2000.
But due to Maoist threats, most of the construction firms withdrew from the project midway, due to which the project got delayed and its estimated cost spiralled.