Rs 37-cr bridge to come up over Swan river, will link Haroli to Kutlehar: Dy CM

Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri today said the Union Government had sanctioned a Rs 37 crore project for the construction of a bridge over the Swan river at Ghaluwal village, connecting the Haroli and Kutlehar Assembly segments in Una district.

Agnihotri, while addressing mediapersons here, said that the new bridge would replace the existing old bridge on the National Highway 503 A.

He said that the existing bridge was constructed in 1962 when Partap Singh Kairon was the Chief Minister of Punjab and Una was part of that state. Over the past 63 years, traffic had increased manifold and there was a dire need to replace the old bridge, he added.

Besides, Agnihotri said that the bridge was damaged during the 2023 floods and had to be closed for a few months for repair.

He said that his personal and sustained efforts besides those of the state PWD officers with the Union Ministry of Road and Surface Transport had yielded postive result. He thanked Union Minister for Highways Nitin Gadkari and Chairman of the National Highways Authority (NHAI) for according approval to the four-lane bridge.

Agnihotri said that Una was today the fastest developing district of the state with all departments undertaking public works. He added that some BJP leaders, who were not able to digest the spree of development, gave credit to the Centre’s funding.

He said, “India runs in a federal system and states have the right to claim their share in the central funding.” He added that one must know how to present their case and take funds from the Centre.

He said that the Rampur-Haroli bridge over the Swan river was sanctioned and completed during the previous Congress government while the Pandoga-Tiuri bridge over the same river was in an advanced stage of completion. He added that in the surface transport sector alone, works worth several hundred crores of rupees were in progress in Una.

Agnihotri said that in the Haroli segment, a bridge over the Chandpur rivulet was constructed recently, while the work on bridges over rivulets in Haroli and Lalari was in progress. He added that a village link road project with a bridge at Gondpur village, estimated to cost Rs 12 crore, was sanctioned recently.

He said that drinking water, irrigation, education al infrastructure, road connectivity and health were his priority areas in Haroli. He added the state government was creating infrastructure for the upcoming bulk drug park at Polian village in the Haroli segment.