New Delhi: According to Northern Railway, the new Yamuna Bridge will be ready by September. The bridge is parallel to the old one known as Loha Pul on the Delhi-Shahdara section.
The old bridge was built in 1867 but is now outdated. The construction of a new bridge began in 2003, despite the fact that the idea to build it was approved in 1997–98. It has even missed a number of deadlines during the last two decades.
The senior official of Northern Railway, quoted, “Out of 14 spans, open web girders have been launched at six. For the remaining spans, fabrication work on the girders is in progress in a workshop. Other allied and finishing works will also be completed by September.”
The official added that the bridge was supposed to be finished by 2007, however, obstacles caused several delays. One of the main reasons for the delay was that the new bridge was close to Salimgarh Fort. Because the fort was a protected site, the bridge’s alignment, which was on the fort’s side, had to be modified. As a result, a plot of land from the fort’s grounds was needed to carry out the design.
However, in 2007, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) reversed its decision and revoked permission to build the bridge, claiming that demolishing a part of the fort’s wall would cause harm to the protected site. Following the submission of the report by the ‘Cultural Impact Assessment Committee in 2011, it was agreed that the bridge would be built with a different alignment to avoid the fort’s premises. Finally, in 2012, the ASI gave the railways the green light to build the bridge with a revised alignment.
