|HT|
Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari will dedicate to the nation the eastern flank of the reconstructed Mahatma Gandhi (MG) setu over the River Ganga in Bihar on Sunday. Chief minister Nitish Kumar will also attend the event, which will be held in physical mode, said state road construction department (RCD) minister Nitin Nabin. Inaugurated as the longest river bridge in India by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1982, Mahatma Gandhi Setu went in to repair mode in 1999 and it remained so till 2016, until the central government approved its reconstruction plan.
Gadkari had flagged off traffic on the western flank of the 5.57km-long MG Setu —a lifeline for communication between North and South Bihar—on July 31, 2020. However, the event was held in virtual mode with Gadkari being seen in action from New Delhi owing to the prevalence of Covid-19 pandemic.
Kumar, who skipped the event of opening of traffic on both sides of the 6-lane Koilwar Bridge by Gadkari last month, will accompany the Union minister.
The road traffic on Munger rail-cum-road bridge was opened for traffic in February this year. However, Gadkari attended that event also through video conferencing. RCD minister Nabin and additional chief secretary (ACS), road, Pratyay Amrit on Thursday carried out final inspection of the eastern flank before setting it open for traffic, which would considerably ease traffic on the bridge as well as its approach road on both Patna and Hajipur side.
The bridge has been reconstructed by the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) at the cost of ₹1,742 crore under the Prime Minister’s package to Bihar. However, that was unable to cater to heavy load of traffic crossing the river, which often resulted in massive jams on both sides of the bridge for many hours.
The nearest bridge for heavy vehicles on the River Ganga is in Bhojpur, which is around 35km west of the existing MG Setu, as the rail-cum-road bridge JP Setu is restricted for goods careers. Officials of the Bihar Chamber of Commerce and Industries (BCCI) and truck owners’ association said that they have been anxiously waiting for the opening of both flanks of the bridge, as frequent traffic jams on MG Setu have badly hampered their businesses. “Cost of transportation has gone up due to frequent chocking of traffic on MG Setu,” said president of Bihar Truck Owners’ Association Bhanu Shekhar Prasad Singh.
(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)