Second Brahmani bridge in Odisha’s Rourkela to be completed by Nov 2020: NHAI

Bhubaneswar: The construction of second Brahmani bridge at Balughat in Odisha’s Rourkela will be completed by November, 2020, an NHAI official said today.

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) Chief General Manager and Regional Officer, Dharmananda Sarangi, informed reporters here.

“The construction of the second bridge over Brahmani which began on May 23 this year will be completed by November 2020. The six-lane bridge will have a total length of 29.1 km,” said Sarangi.

He said the construction work of the bridge got delayed due dealy in getting forest clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF).

He also informed: Hyderabad-based GKC Projects Ltd has bagged the first package from Birmitrapur to Rourkela, including the new bridge, at a cost of Rs 381.75 crore.

The mega project is hanging fire since the UPA-II regime. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 1, 2015 had publicly announced to complete the project soon. Union Minister for Road Transport and NHAI Nitin Gadkari had laid the foundation on July 21, 2017 at Rourkela and announced to start work in 15 days.

Besides Brahmani bridge in Rourkela, the construction of six more bridges over Brahmani is underway in Bonai in Sundargarh, Barkot in Deogarh and Sarang in Dhenkanal and construction of the bridge at Jajpur Road, Jenapur and Jarka in Jajpur district will begin very soon.

In a related development, Muktikant Biswal, an idol-maker from Rourkela, reached New Delhi today to remind the PM Modi about the promise he had made to upgrade the Ispat General Hospital (IGH) to a super-specialty hospital and construction of second bridge over Brahmani river.

Heartbroken, Biswal packed his bag with a few necessary items and started on his gruelling journey carrying a national flag from Rourkela on foot on April 16.

Meanwhile, Biswal has threatened to sit on dharna in the national capital until his demand to meet Modi fulfilled.