SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, March 15: A ten-member high-level joint team of central and state governments today inspected the under-construction Barbendia bridge. The bridge connects Dhanbad- Jamtara districts on Barakar river at Nirsa where 14 villagers had died in a boat mishap on February 24.
The team under Umashankar Vidyarthi, the joint director in the Ministry of Jal Shakti Department of Water Resources, River Development Government of India, inspected the bridge along with Nirsa MLA Aparna Sengupta and expressed hope that work for completion of the bridge would kick start soon.
Besides joint director Vidyarthi, joint director Haridev, superintending engineer of rural development of Hazaribagh circle Jawahar Lal Gupta, executive engineer Dhanbad Narendra Kumar, assistant engineer David Tirkey, junior engineer Dayal Mahto, junior engineer Ashok Mahtha, Sunil Kumar Ravidas and Akhileshwar Ram (both junior engineer) were the members of the team.
“The team would submit its report to the state and central governments soon,” said Vidyarthi.
The official sources said that the central and state governments had sent the team on the demand of Nirsa BJP MLA Aparna Sengupta, who had been agitating for the completion of the bridge for 13 years. Even after the boat mishap, she raised the issue in the state assembly and staged a dharna.
Sengupta said that since the central government would take action only on the recommendation of the state government, she met Chief Minister Hemant Soren, the concerned department and its secretary for a recommendation.
“Finally, the continuous effort has paid the dividend. The expert team said that the work on the bridge would start shortly,” she said.
The under-construction Barbedia Bridge has been in the eye of a storm following the boat mishap on the evening of February 24 in which 14 persons including women and children had died. The boat was going to Jamtara from Barbendia of Nirsa (Dhanbad) when it capsized in the river.
Barbendia Bridge started in 2008 but its five pillars were swept away in a flood in 2009. In the lack of a bridge, people have to travel by boat to cross the river.
