As per the poll commitment of BJP leaders Jual Oram and Dilip Ray, a hanging bridge will be constructed at Vedavyas, a holy place over River Brahmani and a confluence of River Koel, Shankha and Saraswati, at a cost of Rs8 crore on the lines of the one at Dhabaleswar Pith on the outskirts of Cuttack. Oram said this after site visit by both the leaders on Saturday. Ray said it was their commitment keeping in view of the longstanding public demand. He further said the State Rural Development Department has already conducted a survey at Vedvyas. According to their preliminary estimation Rs8 crore has been sanctioned by Union Tribal Affair Minister, informed Ray.
Vedavyas has been carrying a mythological background. legend has it that that Maharshi Vyas Dev had scripted Mahabharata in a cave located here. Besides tourists throughout the year, lakhs of devotees visit the place during Maha Shivaratri and Shravan Mela every year. But so far, devotees and tourists from steel city have to take a detour to reach the scenic spiritual place.
As the visitors need to cross the old Brahmani bridge, a busy place at any given time, locals have been demanding construction of a hanging bridge over the river, which would be easier for them to reach the temple by just walking down on it. So, the hanging bridge is expected to give a huge fillip to tourist inflow to the holy place, added Ray.