Defence Minister Virtually Inaugurates Four Motor Bridges in Chamoli-Uttarkashi | Uttarakhand | 29 Oct 2022

Why in News?

On October 28, 2022, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh virtually inaugurated four motor bridges in Chamoli, the frontier region of Uttarakhand, and Nelang Valley in Uttarkashi.

Key Points

• The Defense Minister inaugurated three bridges on the Karnprayag-Gwaldam highway and one at Nelong at Kulsari in the state. With the construction of these bridges, the movement of the army will be facilitated up to the India-China border and apart from this, large vehicles of the army will be able to go to the border easily.
• It is worth mentioning that the construction of all three bridges on the Karnprayag-Gwaldam highway in the state has been done by BRO's 66 RCC Command Gauchar. The length of the bridge on the highway at Kulsari is 50 meters, the length of the Kuseri bridge at Tharali is 40 meters and the length of the bridge at Lolti is 35 meters.
• Brigadier Rajiv Srivastava, chief engineer of shivalik project in Uttarakhand, said that the Border Roads Organization has constructed these three bridges in just one and a half years.
• The construction work on the strategically important Pagal Nala in Nelang Valley, a border area of Uttarkashi district of the state, has been completed and now the Nelang Valley road will not be closed due to heavy rains and landslides.
• Major Naman Narula of BRO said that this bridge is capable of carrying the army's highest weight tanks and equipment. In the technical parlance of the Army, its load carrying capacity is 70R.
• Four more bridges are being constructed in landslide-affected areas in Nelang valley so that the strategically important road is not closed due to landslides during the rains. All these bridges are of 50 to 65 meters span. The cost of each bridge is Rs.6 to 7 crore and the construction of one of these bridges is likely to be completed by next year. All these bridges are coming up within a radius of 25 km between Bhairavghati and Nelang Valley.
• Along with these bridges, Rajnath Singh also inaugurated 72 other projects in the country through video conferencing from Leh Valley.