05 August, 2026 – Gurdaspur : Despite the Centre approving Rs 100 crore for the construction of an all-weather bridge over the Ravi to connect a cluster of nine villages across the river here, the state government will take another two years to complete the project.
The Centre had approved Rs 100.48 crore in August 2021 from the Central Road and Infrastructure Fund (CIRF) for the 1,606-metre-long concrete bridge.
The all-weather bridge will have 40 spans, each 36.5 metres high.
The state government is the implementing agency.
On Tuesday, when Dinanagar MLA Aruna Chaudhary raised the issue in the Vidhan Sabha, PWD Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO told her that “it would take two more years for the project to see the light of day”.
Said Chaudhary, “This is insane. Earlier, government officials wasted five years, and now they are asking for two more. The more the government delays, the more it will have to pay. Moreover, people are suffering for no fault of theirs.”
Last year, the PWD minister had assured the MLA on the floor of the House that construction would start before December 31, 2025.
More than 4,000 people live in nine villages located across the Ravi.
The bridge is to facilitate the movement of these people from their villages to other parts of Punjab.
The PWD lays a pontoon bridge every year to facilitate movement.
However, it is dismantled in the first week of July every year before being re-laid at the end of September.
During the floods last year, the pontoon bridge was swept away, making life treacherous for the villagers. Scores of lives and livestock were lost as people could not move to safe places.
Several central ministers had visited the area in the aftermath of the deluge.
A senior PWD officer said, “We are trying our best to get construction started.”
The Tribune