Govt to build bridge over Bhagirathi river

Kolkata: The state government has floated a global tender to build a bridge over river Bhagirathi.

The estimated cost of the bridge along with the road will be around Rs 1,779 crore. The State Highway Development Corporation will bear the cost of the project.

A Danish firm has already prepared the sketch of the bridge, which will be of the cable-stayed type.

A road will be constructed connecting Hooghly, North 24-Parganas and Nadia. The road will connect Magra in Hooghly with Saptagram. It will be a four lane road. Then, a 700 metre bridge will be constructed on river Bhagirathi, connecting Saptagram with Kalyani, which is situated across the river.

The road will connect Barajagulia on National Highway 34. The length of the road will be 29 km. Once the project is completed, lakhs of people in Hooghly, East Burdwan, Nadia and North 24-Parganas will be benefitted.

The Chief Minister has asked the administration to make the bridge a unique one, both in terms of looks and engineering.

It may be mentioned that after coming to power in Bengal in 2011, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has given special emphasis on the construction of both urban and rural roads.

A project to construct 35,000 km of rural roads has been undertaken by the state Panchayats and Rural Development department. Many bridges, culverts and roads have been constructed since 2011, which have improved connectivity in Bengal.