Belabahali bridge in Keonjhar not to be shifted: NHAI

Keonjhar: The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has decided not to shift the location of the proposed bridge over Kusei river on National Highway No 215 at Belabahali village in Anandpur block of Keonjhar district.

The NHAI yesterday asked the district administration to cooperate and provide full security to the construction company to complete it in time.

It may be recalled here that the villagers have been opposing the bridge construction work over Kosei as part of the expansion of NH-215 for the last one year.

They have been demanding that the location of the bridge should be shifted as the current location may cause flooding. They have held several demonstrations and dharnas in the past one year to press their demand.

Following a police-public clash on 7th July, 2015, the Union Minister for Road and Surface Transport Nitin Gadkari had directed the NHAI to conduct a fresh survey on it while a technical committee of the NHAI was asked to review its work again.

The NHAI has also decided that the bridge will be constructed as per the previous design and there would be no changes in it.