Construction of second bridge across Godavari at Bhadrachalam still incomplete

The bridge was opened during this year’s Sri Rama Navami as large numbers of devotees were expected to attend the celebrations at Sri Seetha Ramachandra Swamy Devasthanam here.

Bhadrachalam (Kothagudem): The second bridge across river Godavari at Bhadrachalam, the construction of which has dragged on for over nine years, still remains incomplete, much to the inconvenience of the commuters.

The bridge was opened during this year’s Sri Rama Navami as large numbers of devotees were expected to attend the celebrations at Sri Seetha Ramachandra Swamy Devasthanam here. Though incomplete, it was opened without any official ceremony due to the election code. The bitumen layer on the bridge and approach roads were laid making it ready for traffic. However, Rajdeep Buildcon Private Limited, a north Indian company which built beyond the schedule, failed to complete the pending works. The side railings of the approach roads and of the footpaths on either side of the bridge are yet to be completed even after two months of the bridge being brought into use.The lack of side railings on the new bridge has been causing much inconvenience to the commuters passing over the bridge as well as making it dangerous. With the onset of monsoon, the works would be further delayed, complained B Mahesh, a resident of Burgampad.

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R Uppal of Paloncha, who regularly travels to Bhadrachalam on work, wanted the national highways authorities to take immediate steps to complete the railing work before any untoward incident occurred. As the contracting agency could not complete the project as per the schedule, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) gave extensions to the agency several times to complete the project. The delay in the works shows the negligent attitude of the agency and officials, he said.

Daily hundreds of vehicles pass over the bridge that connects Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh States. With the opening of the second bridge the traffic congestion was reduced as the traffic has been flowing on both the old bridge and new bridges.