Muzaffarpur: Ahead of CM Nitish Kumar’s scheduled visit to Muzaffarpur, images of workers whitewashing walls of a “bridge constructed over Burhi Gandak river with no approach roads” going viral on social media, the district administration on Sunday said the work has nothing to do with the CM’s visit.
With people linking the whitewashing of the bridge to Kumar’s scheduled visit to Muzaffarpur district on December 27, as part of his ‘Pragati Yatra’ to review ongoing development projects, DM Subrata Sen said the whitewashing of the walls of the bridge has nothing to do with the CM’s visit.
“I don’t know why it is being connected with the CM’s scheduled visit to the district on December 27. There is no plan of the CM to visit the area at all. The contractor concerned must be getting the work (whitewashing) done. The district administration has no information about it,” the DM said.
He, however, said, “It is true that the entire project has not been completed so far…. Only the bridge over Burhi Gandak river at Chandwara village has been completed without approach roads. The Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Ltd (BRPNNL) has already expedited the process for the acquisition of land for approach roads and the entire project will be completed in 2025…”
The project will not only ease the traffic congestion in Muzaffarpur but will also reduce the distance between Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga, the DM added.
According to officials of the Musahri sub-division, the foundation stone for the bridge was laid by the CM in 2014-2015 and the entire project of Rs 45 crore, including approach roads, was supposed to be completed by 2017-2018. Now, officials of the BRPNNL, have begun steps to acquire land for the approach roads for Chandwara bridge. The construction work of the main bridge of around 130 metre length was completed several years ago without approach roads.
Meanwhile, reacting to the delay in the completion of the above project, Mrityunjay Tiwary, RJD spokesperson, said: “The inordinate delay in the completion of this project has exposed tall claims of Nitish Kumar, who is on his Pragati Yatra these days. This is the perfect example of the hollowness of the NDA govt’s tall claims of development in Bihar.”