Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to inaugurate the newly-constructed bridge on Gurupriya river in the cut-off area of Chitrakonda block in Odisha’s Malkangiri district on July 18.
The third-party audit of the 910-metre bridge has been conducted by the seven-member team of the CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CRRI).
The construction of the bridge was executed by the Kolkata-based Royal Infraconstru Limited at an estimated cost of Rs 172 crore with the direct supervision of the state Works department. The work began in 2014 with the deployment of Border Security Forces at both ends of the bridge.
The bridge will connect 151 villages with a population of about 30,000 spread over seven panchayats in the cut-off area, with the mainland.
The security personnel will have a tactical advantage after completion of the bridge.
The foundation stone of the bridge was laid in 1982 by the then chief minister JB Patnaik and again by chief minister Naveen Patnaik in 2000.
