Pargwal all set to get direct connectivity with Khour
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Oct 2: After so many controversies and hurdles, finally, work on the longest (1680 mts) bridge over river Chenab in Akhnoor sector, connecting Pargwal sector directly with Khour Sub Division, has commenced.
Strategically, very vital in view of its location, the State R&B authorities have allotted the work of this bridge to a ‘joint venture’ from Chandigarh having expertise in the construction of long bridges. The company has been given the 30 months time for completion of this important bridge by the State Government. The company has already started raising temporary sheds and also moving its machinery and equipment to the bridge site.
Official sources told the Excelsior that total six national level construction companies including M/s Singla, UP Bridges Construction Corp and others having expertise in the field of construction of bridges participated in the tender process. During scrutiny at the level of technical bid, two companies could not qualify and finally four companies remained in the final contest for the financial bid.
Sources disclosed that a joint venture of M/s VKG Constructions from Chandigarh and M/s MVZ Constructions from Punjab, has secured the tender having lowest rates of Rs 120 crore quoted in the bid. After the completion of allotment process by the State Level Contract Committee under Commissioner/ Secretary , R&B, the work was allotted to the `Joint Venture’ of this prestigious bridge project hardly three weeks ago.
Chief Engineer R&B Jammu, Sudhir Shah, who is closely associated with this project, after it was handed over to the R&B by the JKPCC last year, said that out of the four companies who contested in the financial bid, a joint venture of M/s VKG Constructions, a Chandigarh based company and M/s MVZ from Punjab has secured the tender. He said work has been allotted to the company and they have started soil testing and mobilization of equipment and machinery to the site. The allotment letter was handed over to them three-four weeks ago.
Shah claimed that the R&B had prepared a DPR worth Rs 177 crore for this bridge work and managed to get the work done in Rs 120 crore thus saving Government money to the tune of nearly Rs 57 crores. He claimed that two and half years deadline has been given to the company to complete this work on 1680 mt long double lane bridge connecting Pargwal area directly with the Khour Sub Divisional headquarters.
A senior R&B official disclosed that `Bhoomi Pujan’ function was held by the company management recently at the site near Pargwal, where local representatives and some R&B officials were also invited. The soil testing and other allied works have started. They are moving machinery and men to the site and also started raising temporary construction for the bridge workers.
This company has recently completed a long bridge over river Ujh near Jathana on Mangloor-Ghati Road in district Kathua. They have moved their material and machines from there also to the Chenab river site, he added.
As reported by the Excelsior earlier, the work on this vital bridge in Defence point of view, over river Chenab in Khour-Pargwal area of Akhnoor, said to be the longest bridge in Northern India, remained in crisis for several years. Its location was changed twice due to objections by the Defence authorities being closer to the Indo-Pak border and also sabotaged by some people when it was under JKPCC. The agency failed to finalise tenders even for about two years and the Government lastly cancelled the tender and then handed over the assignment again to the State R&B authorities during October, 2017.
Sources in the R&B revealed that some ‘vested interests’, sabotaged this Jammu centric project as the Technical Committee of the JKPCC headed by it’s the then Managing Director, involved in the tender process since July 25, 2016, cancelled the tender even after granting four extensions of 180 days, exposing the incompetence, incapability and mala-fide intentions of the people at the helm of affairs.
This important road bridge which is very vital from Defence point of view in Akhnoor sector, faced rough weather due to weak political leadership of Jammu and least interest shown by the Jammu based Ministers during last several years. After the passage of over three and half years of its sanction, this bridge project has finally took off, providing a great sigh of relief to a population of over 30,000 from Pargwal sub sector.
Actually, this prestigious Jammu centric project was facing rough weather from very beginning at the hands of the people at the helm of affairs, despite the fact that entire funding is being made by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways under CRF. For sabotaging this project, some people moved to the court on the advice of some ‘insiders’ but the court dismissed the case on 23-3-2017.
This 1680 mt span bridge over Chenab, directly connecting Pargwal area, which is surrounded by Pakistan from three sides and from other side locked by the mighty Chenab river, with a narrow road acting as life line along an old canal popularly known as Suyya No. 1 with Khour, will provide a big relief to the big population of this border belt after commissioning.
During Pakistani shelling/ firing, only one single road connecting Pargwal with Jammu-Akhnoor highway at Suyya No. I, serves as life line to the people. But some times this population of over 30,000 souls remains cut off during heavy shelling from Pakistani side as this only road is closer to border at several points and this bridge would provide them a vital outlet at the time of crisis. This again happened hardly a three months ago and entire population remained trapped in their houses for over 10-12 hours amidst Pakistan shelling. This bridge would provide them a great relief. The bridge would also reduce the distance between Pargwal and Khour Tehsil/ Sub- Divisional headquarters from 55 kms to hardly 13-14 kms.
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