Railways delaying Majerhat Bridge: Mamata Banerjee after BJP’s violent clash with police
BJP demanded immediate reopening of the Majerhat Bridge, a portion of which had collapsed on September 4, 2018 killing two persons.
The state government has finalised the new design of Majerhat Bridge, a portion of which had collapsed on 4 September, and it will cost around Rs 200 crore.
The new Majerhat Bridge will be similar to Vidyasagar Setu, which is a cable-stayed bridge. It means a bridge in which the weight of the deck is supported by a number of cables running directly to one or more towers. The proposed bridge will be four laned and have footpaths.
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The state government had initially planned to set up a bowstring bridge in Majerhat. Engineers, however, realised that it is not possible as it will cut down space where the proposed Joka-Esplanade Metro project is coming up.
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The Haryana-based company that has won the bid to rebuild the bridge was hence asked to design a cable-stayed bridge as it occupies less space compared to a bowstring bridge.
The state Public Works Department (PWD) had fixed a timeframe of nine months to rebuild the bridge that was later extended to 11 months, which would be effective from the date of the finalisation of contract.
The Haryana-based company was given the contract on 6 November with 15 September, 2019 as the deadline for the new bridge to be ready. Earlier, the cost of the bridge would have been Rs 179 crore. The total cost of construction of the new bridge will now be Rs 200 crore.
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