Reconstructed Balurghat footbridge awaits inauguration

BALURGHAT: With the initiative of the Balurghat civic body, a footbridge that crosses the Atreyee rivulet was recently repaired and is now waiting to be inaugurated.

Local residents demanded that the footbridge be repaired. In January, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee laid the foundation stone for the reconstruction of this footbridge virtually from Malda during her administrative review meeting. Accordingly, the Balurghat Municipality had taken up repair work.

There is an iron footbridge from Ghatkali on one side of the Atreyee River in Balurghat city to the Shiva temple on the other side.

To improve the communication system of the city, the then Left-run Balurghat Municipality took the initiative to build this bridge around 21 years ago.

The bridge is 100 meters long and six feet wide and is made of iron with concrete pillars. The civic board is responsible for the maintenance of the bridge through the Public Works Department.

“With age, the iron portion of the bridge began to rust. Since 2019 the bridge has been in a dilapidated state. People had to take other longer routes to reach important parts of the town, thereby avoiding the dilapidated bridge,” said a source.

Residents demanded that the bridge be reconstructed. The new Trinamool Board started working on a project on these lines, after the formation of the board, a year ago. A fund of Rs 48 lakh was allocated to reconstruct the bridge. Finally, work of the bridge was completed a few days ago and it is waiting for an official inauguration.

Ashok Mitra, chairman of Balurghat civic body said that the footbridge was one of the Municipality’s important projects. “After overcoming all the complications, the work was started after allocating funds. It was a longstanding demand of the city people. The project is complete. We will inaugurate it as soon as possible,”

he said.