Abdul
Gani
Guwahati:
It was an emotional yet proud evening for these gentlemen who cherished the
hard labour they put into creating a milestone in the history of the country.
Meet Swarn Singh and his colleagues as they stood on the banks of the mighty
Brahmaputra with the gorgeous Saraighat bridge in front of them which completed
50 glorious years of its service to the people of India, on Tuesday.
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| Assam Chief minister deliver lecture near the bridge. Pic: Subhamoy Bhattacharjee |
“It is a lifetime achievement. We are proud of what
we have done. We can confidently say that it will serve another 100 and more
years without any trouble,” an emotional Singh told Seven Sisters Post as he
participated in a programme Indian Railway had organized to mark the 50th year
of one of India’s longest doubledecker bridge on Tuesday.
The construction of Saraighat bridge was started in January
1959 by Hindustan Construction Company and was completed in September 1962. A
diesel engine ran on the bridge on September 23, 1962.
However, specific traffic was allowed over the 1298
metre long bridge on October 27 in the same year bringing an end to an era of
infinite transportation woes for the region. The 10.6 crore bridge was formally
inaugurated on June 7, 1963 by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
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| Saraighat Bridge at evening. Pic: Biju Boro |
“We just cannot express the feeling we experienced
at that time. We sang the inauguration song in front of Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru,” Singh said as his colleagues Satyabarta Bhattacharjee,
Shiben Bannerjee and Dilip Kumar Mitra looked on with a sense of pride.
Later in the evening these witnesses of history were
felicitated. They also recounted how they were engaged to build the bridge.
“The important thing was that the entire work was done by Indians. All the
people including the railway and other technical officials involved in the
process were brilliant. We still remember how we had to struggle against the
sharp underwater current. We doubt if there is any other bridge of such
quality,” Shiben Bannerjee who is also a classical music exponent told this
correspondent at Pandu ghat.
Altogether 14,000 tonne of steel, 4.2 milion cubic
ft concrete and 40,000 tonne of cement were used to build the first ever bridge
on Brahmaputra. At present Rs25 lakh per year is spent by the Railways in
maintenance of the bridge. Assam governor Janaki Ballav Patnaik, Chief Minister
Tarun Gogoi and other railway officials including Railways general manager S
Virdi were present on the occasion.
Assam governor JB Patnaik suggested that the name of
the bridge should be Lachit Borphukan. “There should also be a statue of the
great warrior in a commanding position along with a short description of the
war written on a marble plaque,” Patnaik said.
While, the Chief Minister said that he felt
privileged as he was present on the occasion of the inauguration of the bridge
in his youth. (Seven Sisters Post)
1 comments:
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