SRIKAKULAM: The long-cherished dream of around 10,000 people from nearly 50 villages on both sides of river Nagavali is set to be a reality as the State government gave administration sanction for the construction of Balasalarevu bridge between Waltair and Isukalapeta villages with an estimated cost of Rs 87 crore.
The bridge will be useful for people in 50 villages in five mandals Santhakaviti, Ponduru, Amudalavalasa, G Sigadam and Rajam in the district and reduce distance of travel by at least 40 km to reach their district headquarters, Srikakulam. Roads and Buildings chief engineer Nayeemulla visited the proposed site of Balasalarevu bridge. The tenders will be floated soon.
The people of five mandals have been facing difficulties in reaching their district headquarters Srikakulam with the absence of a bridge for the past five decades. They are forced to travel at least 60 km to reach Srikakulam by road. Therefore, they are crossing the river Nagavali at Balasalrevu in a dangerous manner to reduce their journey to 20km. In this process, a few people got washed away in the Nagavali River during the rainy season.
After a series of agitations, the TDP government led by N Chandrababu Naidu sanctioned Balasalarevu Bridge with an estimated cost of Rs 9 crore and issued GO No 154 in 1999. However, the project didn’t start. Though the successive governments assured of constructing the bridge, nothing has happened.
The people of several villages staged a relay hunger fast at Waltair village for 794 days from February 19, 2017 and November 23, 2019 raising the demand. During the 2019 election campaign, present Amadalavalasa MLA and Assembly Speaker Tammineni Seetharam promised to build Balasalarevu Bridge.
People in those mandals thanked MLA Tammineni Seetharam and the government for allocating funds for the project. Now, it will become a major road between Srikakulam and Vizianagaram district as Rajam mandal is merged in Vizianagaram district in recent district reorganisation.
After assuming charge as assembly speaker, Tammineni Seetharam took up the issue with officials concerned.The State government sanctioned the bridge and sent the file to the Finance Department for release of funds a few days ago.
Srikakulam roads and building Superintending Engineer (SE) said, “Roads and Buildings engineer in chief Nayeemulla visited the proposed bridge construction site recently. We are preparing ground-to-call tenders. The tender process will be completed in a couple of months.”