Majerhat Bridge gets safety nod from CRS

Kolkata: The Majerhat Bridge reconstruction project got a shot in its arm after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee raised the matter in the presence of the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, in Friday's Eastern Zonal Council (EZC) meeting at Bhubaneswar. The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) gave the necessary clearances allowing construction of the superstructure of the bridge within hours of the meeting.

Banerjee had stated in the meeting that the delay in getting the clearance is hampering the momentum of the work which is leading to inconvenience of lakhs of people residing in Behala and its surrounding areas.

According to sources in the state Public Works Department (PWD), the state government received a communique on Friday evening itself giving clearance to carry out with the construction of the superstructure of the cable-stayed bridge.

Sources said that the CRS wrote to the Eastern Railway (ER) giving clearance to the same and the ER authorities forwarded it to the state PWD. "We have received the necessary clearances for the Majerhat project on Friday evening itself," said an official of the state government.

It may be mentioned that construction of one wing of the rail overbridge (ROB) is going on in full swing and with the clearances received from the CRS, the launching of girder for the remaining part of the bridge can be started now.

Sources said that there was a high-level meeting of the PWD department soon after getting the clearances and there was a detailed discussion that how the remaining work can be executed properly to give relief to the people staying in Behala and its surrounding area.

Initially, the CRS had brought up 31 issues that need to be addressed to get the clearances. Later, it was brought down to 22.

The CRS had suggested wind tunnel test which is required to assess the wind force the cable stayed-bridge can tolerate as was done for Vidyasagar Setu. But it has been later explained that it is not needed for the bridge.

A major portion of the Majerhat Bridge had collapsed on September 4 in 2018. Later, the state government had decided to bring down the entire structure and to construct a new one in its place.

On November 25, 2019, the Chief Minister had written to the minister of Railways Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, requesting to take steps so that the necessary clearances are given as early as possible.

Again, in the EZC meeting on Friday the Chief Minister has explained how badly the people of a large part of south Kolkata including Behala and South 24-Parganas are facing since the bridge had collapsed.