Central agency to construct portion of 4th bridge
Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Nov 17: The restoration of maximum damaged roads on which work has been already started by Roads and Buildings (R&B) Department in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts will be completed by December 15 at an estimated cost of Rs 72 crore while reconstruction of damaged portion of fourth Tawi bridge will be either handed-over to National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) or any other Central agency expert in construction of heavy structures for its reconstruction.
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Official sources told Excelsior that restoration work of damaged roads has been initiated and many of them will be restored by December 15. About Rs 72 crore will be spent on the renovation of these damaged roads in three districts of Jammu, Samba and Kathua they added.
Sources said 300 works in this regard have been tendered by the R&B Department in the three districts and work on various roads has been started, while on others it will begin soon under City & Town Scheme.
Sources said detailed project reports have been submitted to the Government for the roads and bridges which have been totally damaged in recent floods in some areas including Nagrota constituency for approval and work on these bridges and roads will be started soon after approval is granted by the Government.
Sources said the Panjtirthi, Sidhra road which was damaged due to landslides during Monsoon rains has been restored fully besides Nagrota -Kole Kandoli road has also been restored at an estimated cost of Rs 35 lakh.
However, for some major damages suffered during recent flash floods especially in Nagrota and other parts of Jammu region, the R&B Department has submitted a detailed proposal for sanction of funds and approval. After receiving the funds for the same these works will be tendered and construction started, sources added.
In addition to it, link road from Kot Bhalwal to Dansal has been restored while for construction of 350 metre span motorable bridge at Katal Batal a proposal for sanction of Rs 34 crore has been submitted to Government, sources said, adding the foot bridge which was existing on this road has been damaged during recent floods.
Sources said Sidrah -Surinsar Mansar road had also been damaged in recent floods. Though it was restored for vehicular traffic by the Department, for its total restoration, a proposal of Rs 12.50 crore has been submitted to Government. However, all the small link roads in Nagrota area have been restored they added.
Sources said in Bhatindi and Sunjwan area the restoration work on roads is in progress under C&T Scheme while the roads damaged during floods have been already restored.
Sources said macadamazation of Ambphalla – Bantalab road is under progress while Muthi -Akalpur link road and Muthi Rajouri Line link road have been macadamized fully.
The construction and macadamization of roads has also started in some parts of Bishnah, Rajpura in Samba and Bahu constituency, sources said.
They said though fourth Tawi bridge has been temporarily restored for vehicular traffic, the Government is proposing to handover the construction of damaged portion of bridge either to National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) or any other agency for permanently restoration of its damaged portion.
Sources said the Public Works Department (PWD) has taken up the temporary restoration work of the bridge in hand and it has restored its both tubes for vehicular traffic and work on remaining portion of road is in progress.
Sources said the PWD will temporarily restore the bridge to make it worth for vehicular traffic for time being but for reconstruction of damaged portion the Government has decided to handover the work to NHAI or any other agency which has a good experience of constructing super structures. About Rs 1.72 crore will be spent on temporary restoration of this vital bridge, sources added.
According to them, the total reconstruction of damaged portion of bridge will involve about Rs 30 crore tentatively. However, the exact amount can be determined only after framing of Detailed Project Report (DPR) in this regard.
It may be recalled that a portion of road along the bridge on both tubes was totally washed away towards Belicharana side during recent floods paralysing the vehicular traffic on this vital road. However, the R&B Department restored the bridge temporarily but for permanent restoration it will be handed over to a Central agency.
Chief Engineer R&B, Rajiv Gupta when contacted said that restoration has been started on 300 works on which Rs 72 crore will be spent. He said the most damaged roads will be restored by December 15 on which the work has been undertaken by the Department.
Gupta said the fourth Tawi bridge has also been temporarily restored and on remaining portion of the road work is going on which will be completed within a week.
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