Foundation of rly bridge at Badarpur laid

BADARPUR, May 23 ? As a part of the ongoing Silchar-Badarpur-Lumding 198 gauge conversion project work, the foundation stone ceremony of the second railway bridge was held at Badarpur Ghat, near Barak river, on Sunday by NF Rly General Manager Vipan Nanda, alongwith the NF Rly DRM ? Ashutosh Swami, NF Rly CPRO Smt U Hazarika, railway chief engineers and all other high officials of railway department. Sri Nanda in his brief speech said, this new bridge is the longest in the lumding-Badarpur hill section (409.80 metre long) and it will have also 10 piers. The total cost of the construction of this new bridge will be Rs 29,13,62115 and the construction is likely to take two years for completion. He also said there will be provision of foothpath in the new bridge. Sri Nanda said that the construction of this new BG bridge is considered to be a challenge as the Barak river has a minimum depth of 15 metres and the new bridge will be adjacent to the old bridge and the piers of this bridge will be in line with the existing piers. Addressing a press conference in ceremonial place at Badarpur, NF Rly GM said ? at present the BG work of the hill section is going on in full swing. For this gauge conversion work, there is no scarcity of money at all. All total Rs 70 crore have been sanctioned in the 2002-2003 budget for BG implementation. The GM also said, this BG work must be completed within the scheduled period, even though there is militancy problem in the hill section. A special force of RPF has been deployed in the hill section, GM added. Earlier, the NF Rly GM was given a warm reception by the scouts and guides of Badarpur Rly Higher Secondary School, at Badarpur Rly Station, after reaching here from Guwahati.