At a time when the construction of the Bogibeel bridge over the Brahmaputra is on the verge of completion a clash has taken place between the contractors engaged in the construction and with the dispute showing no signs of resolving despite intervention of the Dibrugarh district administration, the Railway Ministry on Saturday hurriedly dispatched a two-member team to Dibrugarh sort out the issue.
The two-member Railway team comprises Nilesh Kishore Prasad, General Manager (Construction), North East Frontier (NFR) Railway and Mahesh Kumar Gupta, Member (Engineering), Railway Board and Ex-officio Secretary to the government of India.
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The two officials are scheduled to hold a discussion with representatives of the two warring groups, railway officials as well as senior civil and police officials at the Bogibeel bridge site as the construction work has been halted due to the clash.
Union Minister of State for Railway Rajen Gohain is likely to visit Bogibeel on Sunday.
Sources said the progress of work on Bogibeel bridge over the Brahmaputra has slowed down as the workers have stopped working. Everybody is waiting anxiously for the completion of the bridge but if the things go this way the completion of the bridge is unlikely to be completed this year.
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“The Dibrugarh district administration held meetings with the officials of Hindustan Construction Company and contractors but till date no solution has come out so far,” said sources.
An official source said work on Bogibeel bridge was going on in full swing and but after the clash between the contractors, the work was stopped affecting the work of the Bogibeel bridge construction.
On Wednesday, two groups of workers under two contractors had been engaged in the Superstructure work of the 4.94 km long bridge. While one group was working on the river’s north bank (Dhemaji side), the other group was engaged at the south bank (Dibrugarh). The dispute arose after the workers from the north bank reportedly carried out construction on the other side, violating an earlier agreement.
Sources said there was a mutual understanding between the two contractors that each party would do the concreting work on 20 upper deck slabs each on the bridge’s superstructure. But the north bank contractor disregarding the agreement went on to complete the concreting work of 30 deck slabs. On Wednesday morning, a clash took place between the two parties resulting in complete halt of work.
“We are hopeful that the bridge will be completed this year but if work continues to stop, then this will impact the progress of the work. Already the project has missed a number of deadlines and if such things are not sorted out at the earliest it will have a great impact on the project,” said an official source.