Thaindian News

Basholi (Jammu and Kashmir), May 22 (IANS) High anticipation gripped this hill town in Jammu and Kashmir Sunday, a day before United Progressive Alliance (UPA)chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi lays the foundation stone of a bridge over the river Ravi linking it to Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.

Gandhi Monday will kick-off the construction of a 592-meter-long bridge that will cost of Rs.145 crore and take three years for completion.

“It would be the scripting of a new chapter for our place,” Chaudhary Lal Singh, MP of Udhampur, told IANS. On Sunday, he was busy inspecting the site of the construction.

“This was the demand of the people of our area for long, but tomorrow (Monday) when the work starts it would be like the laying of foundation of a dream future,” he said.

Besides linking the three states, the bridge would offer many opportunities for development, said an official of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which would build the bridge.

“The bridge will also open up new areas for development and tourism in Kathua and Doda districts in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

“It will open up an alternative route to National Highway 1A that connects the Kashmir Valley to Jammu and the rest of India,” the official said.

“It will link the Kashmir Valley via Basholi, Bani, Bhaderwah, Kishtwar, Chhatroo and Anantnag and boost development of these areas with better connectivity,” he said.

The Basohli bridge is going to be a technological marvel. It will be a cable-stayed bridge, similar to the Second Hooghly bridge in Kolkota, Naini Bridge in Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad and the Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link in Mumbai.

The Basohli bridge will have a tower height of about 88 metres above deck level. The decking and the span regions will only be supported by cables. There will be 1.5-metre-wide footpaths on both the sides.

The contract for the construction of the bridge has been given by the BRO to IRCON-SPS Construction Pvt Ltd.