Despite spending Rs 130 cr, Asia's 'longest bridge' eludes completion; Pratapnagar MlA promises 18 months
The State Government keeps dishing out dreams of Kedarpuri and scores of smart cities across the State. However, such assurances flamboyantly made at regular intervals would ring hollow if we judge things by the yardstick of what is happening to a bridge promised long back. After around Rs 130 crore having been spent on Dobra-Chanti bridge on Tehri lake over around eight years, things are hanging fire principally because of the incompetence of the engineers and the lack of the will on part of the politicians and the bureaucrats involved in the project.
As for the engineers, things are dismal on the question of their credibility. The stark fact is that let alone building a bridge, they are yet to firm up the design. However, according to the State watchers, pinning all blame on them alone for the sorry state of things is not justified. The lack of will involving those at the helm in both the governance and the administration of the State cannot be underplayed as far fixing responsibility is concerned. "The politicians and the bureaucrats cannot care less for the collective welfare of the people. So the engineers are being made the scapegoats by way of buck-passing," an observer said.
The work on the 440 metre-long bridge, touted as Asia's longest, had begun way back in 2006 to reduce the distance between Pratapnagar and district headquarter after Tehri Dam came up.
However, surprisingly, even with Rs 130 crore being spent, the bridge which was to be completed by 2008 is nowhere near completion. Till date, only 320 metre RCC approach road and the towers on both sides have come up. The main work on the bridge still awaits the drawings. Around one lakh people keep suffering from 'kala pani' like situation, as they are cut off from the main road.
The work of designing the main bridge was entrusted to IIT Roorkee, but the drawing remained elusive. To thaw things, IIT Kharagpur was roped in, but things remained frozen. Things remaining mired in uncertainty, Chief Minister Harish Rawat intervened and the Government invited bidding at international levels at his behest.
Following this, on October 10, the Government decided to appoint Korean company Yosin Engineering Corporation as the project management consultant. Now, Pratapnagar MlA Vikram Singh Negi is claiming that the bridge would be completed in 18 months. However, doubts persist. With the people demanding responsibility to be fixed and those found responsible for the frightfully tardy pace of things be punished in the light of public funds seemingly going down the drains, the officials ordered probe.
The Chief Secretary had set up a three-member committee on April 17. However, six months having passed since, the report is still elusive. This clearly shows that the focus of the department concerned with the project and the contractor company involved in it are bent on finishing off the budget rather than finishing off the project. Such a state of things spawns the disturbing question — is this the reality of UttarakhandIJ