Basholi/Jammu, May 22 (Scoop News) –Construction work for a permanent bridge over river Ravi to link three North Indian states- Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab will kick start tomorrow when the Chairperson of the National Advisory Council Sonia Gandhi lays the foundation stone for the project at Basohli in J&K.
The bridge will also open up new areas for development and tourism in Kathua and Doda diastricts in J&K and along Ranjit Sagar Dam. The 592 metre bridge, to be built by the Border Raods Organisation of the Ministry of Defence at a cost of Rs 145 Crores, will open up an alternative route to
National Highway 1A and to the Kashmir Valley via Basholi, Bani, Bhaderwah, Kishtwar, Chhatroo and Anantnag and boost development of these areas with better connectivity.Scheduled to be constructed by September 2014, the bridge will open up avenues for commercial mining of materials like Gypsum and Lime stone.
Indicative of the significance of the occasion, a galaxy of dignitaries including the Defence Minister AK Antony, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister for New & Renewable Energy Dr Farooq Abdullah, the Chief Minister of J&K Shri Omar Abdullah, the Minister of State for Defence Dr MM Pallam Raju will attend the function. The Defence Secretary Shri Pradeep Kumar and the Director General Border Roads Lt Gen Ravi Shankar will also be present on the occasion.
From a technical point of view, the Basohli bridge is going to be a technological marvel. It will be a cable-stayed bridge, similar to the Second Hoogly bridge at Kolkotta, Naini Bridge at Allahabad and the Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link at Mumbai. The Basohli bridge will have a tower height of about 88 metres above deck level. The decking and the span regions will only be supported by cables. There will be 1.5 metre wide footpaths on both sides. The contract for the construction of the bridge has been awarded to M/S IRCON-SPS Construction Pvt Ltd.
It may be recalled that the Border Roads Organisation, raised in 1960, was primarily tasked to build strategic roads for the Army. It has now diversified to bridging, tunneling and building airfields.