Bridge over Sutlej river in Bilaspur nears completion

Dinesh Kanwar

Hamirpur, August 30

A breakthrough was achieved when both ends of the cantilever bridge near Bagchal on the Govind Sagar lake across Sutlej river in Bilaspur district were connected on Monday. It took to the Public Works Department over 18 years to complete this 330-metre-long bridge. When operational, it would benefit a population of over 1.5 lakh.

The bridge, when opened for public, will benefit villages of Jhandutta and Shri Naina Devi constituencies. The foundation stone of the bridge was laid in 2005 by the then Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh but the construction of the bridge was stopped in 2010. Later, the work resumed in 2016 following the orders of the High Court.

The 330-metre bridge has one central span of 185 metre and two end spans of 72.5 metre each. The bridge has 7.5 metre single carriageway of two lanes and 1.5 metre footpaths on both sides.

Earlier, people had to either cross the river by boats to reach other sides or had to travel over 100 km to reach the district headquarters at Bilaspur. With the construction of this bridge, the distance to Bilaspur from villages across the bridge would reduce by around 50 to 60 km.

As many as 42 gram panchayats of Kot Dhar area and Jhandutta will be benefited. Apart from areas of Bilaspur district, a large population of Hamirpur and Una districts will use the bridge.

Ramesh Kumar of Kalol village said this bridge would bring development to this remote area. This would open up fresh opportunities for growth of business and self-employment.

Jeet Singh Thakur, Superintendent Engineer, PWD, said that both ends of the cantilever bridge at Bagchal have been connected. The work on the bridge would be completed by March.