Municipal Corporation Ludhiana ready to bear entire cost of re-construction of one side of Jagraon Bridge

Ludhiana, July 12, 2016: Keeping in view the urgency of the situation the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana is ready to bear the entire cost of re-construction of one side of Jagraon Bridge and case was put up with the members of the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) for approval.
Also a meeting took place at Circuit House on Tuesday where Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat, Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria, MC Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori, officials from MCL and railways and local leadership discuss the Jagraon Bridge issue.

In the meeting it was decided that after getting approval from F&CC the project work would begin immediately. However, MCL has proposed widening of road from 7 meters to 10 meters and railway officials have been asked to study technical aspects and give revised estimates for the construction. At present railway has estimated cost Rs 11.05 crores for the bridge.

Since the bridge has already been declared unsafe for traffic movement by the experts of Northern Railway the bridge was going to be closed for the commuters so that there should not be any untoward incident. But MCL and other authorities have asked railways not to close the bridge unless they put sign boards for awareness among the commuters. The MCL has also been asked to display the flex boards for the awareness of the commuters that bridge has been closed for the movement of traffic. The board would also be displayed at 20 different locations and in different sizes right from Sherpur Chowk till Laddowal Bridge.

it is learnt that MCL will get a joint inspection done through GNE College experts and in case they allow movement of light traffic we would seek permission for the same. We would also seek justification from railways as to why this bridge was closed suddenly.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that Mayor has also recommended that bridge portion should also be widened from 7 meters to 10 meters because the bridge is quite important and frequency of the traffic is rising with each passing day. Whereas the railway has estimated the cost to Rs 11.05 crores and Mayor claimed that they are ready to pay even the increased cost which they would have to pay for widening of bridge.

It is further learnt that the F&CC is approving the proposal to bear the cost of new construction of the bridge.
It may be mentioned here that the bridge is around 127 years old. It was constructed during the British regime. However, its condition has gone deteriorated with the passage of time.