Railways sanction design for reconstruction of Jagraon Bridge

LUDHIANA: After five months, the railways, on Tuesday, sanctioned the general design for reconstruction of a part of Jagraon bridge, which was closed.
The width of the closed part of the bridge will be 12 meters and the estimated project cost is around Rs 16 crore. Sources in the department said it could be a bowstring bridge but a final decision is yet to be taken.
When one leg of the bridge was closed in July, authorities said it would take 15 days to finalise the design.However, it took five months. Railway authorities attributed this to MC officials seeking increase in the width of the bridge.
When the MC asked the railways to increase the width of the bridge from seven meters to 10 meters, the railways said it could not be done. But now, the railways have sanctioned a width of 12 meters for the bridge.
Divisional railway manager (DRM) Anuj Prakash said railway headquarters have sanctioned the general plan for the bridge. According to him, railway and MC officials will arrange a meeting with the state government to get funds, after which the railways would start the tender process.
DRM Anuj Prakash said it had earlier been decided that the contractor who takes up the project will design the bridge keeping in mind the general design prepared by the railways.
Meanwhile, MC superintending engineer Pawan Sharma said constructing only the closed part of bridge would not help much as when they increase the width of the closed part of bridge over the railway lines, they would also have to consider the width of the other part. For that, they would have to come up with retaining walls on both sides and remove encroachments from the sides of the bridge.
He said he has also asked the railways to send the general design so that they can include the cost in the proposal to be sent to the government for sanction.
But there is still a long way to go as sources in the MC said it would take more than one year to complete the project. Meanwhile, traffic police and MC are working to create diversions on the bridge and other parts of the city to ease the flow of traffic, which was disturbed after one leg of Jagraon Bridge was closed.