State set to construct 100 bridges across canal rivers in 8 North Bengal districts

Kolkata: The North Bengal Development department has taken up a project of constructing 100 bridges across canal rivers in eight North Bengal districts replacing the existing temporary ones which are made of wood or bamboo.

In the recent budget, the state government has allotted Rs 710 crore for the North Bengal Development Department in 2020-21, fiscal and subsequently the project has been taken up considering that the department can make the investment out of the allotted fund.

The project has been taken up to ensure better connectivity even in rural parts of the eight North Bengal districts including Malda, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar.

Engineering cell of the North Bengal Development Department will be the implementing authority for the project and the tenders for the same will be floated from April onwards. It will take a maximum of 18 months to complete a bridge from the day of commencement of work. Since each bridge will be of different length, the cost will also vary. But, each one would take a minimum of Rs 1 crore, according to the sources in the state government.

This comes ahead of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's visit to North Bengal. She will be visiting Malda, North and South Dinajpur this week.

When contacted, Rabindranath Ghosh, minister of the state North Bengal Development Department, said: "The project has been taken up considering that people even in the remotest part of the state do not face any problem in reaching to their destinations on time. Our department will be constructing 100 concrete bridges across canal rivers."

At different places in the state, people need to risk their lives to cross canal rivers using bamboo structures or temporary wooden structures connecting the opposite banks.

There are many places where school goers were found using temporary structures to cross the canal rivers to reach their schools.

The risk goes up manifold during monsoon as most of the canal rivers get filed up to the brim. In many places, it becomes impossible to use the temporary structures during monsoon as a result people need to take longer routes to reach their destinations.

There are pockets in the rural parts of the state that gets disconnected from availing the ambulance facilities even due to lack of permanent concrete structures to cross a canal river or else they need to avail a route that takes more time to reach a health care centre. Once the construction of the proposed bridges is complete, ambulance can easily reach these places.

An official of the state government stated in this connection that the width of canal rivers varies at different locations and accordingly steps would be taken up followed by feasibility studies at each of the 100 locations.

"Construction of the bridges will also be helpful for farmers as vehicles like mini trucks can easily reach to the agricultural land to transport their produce to the nearest market," the official added.