District administration to build 110 foot bridges in Udhampur

JAMMU: More than 110 foot bridges will be constructed near schools and hamlets in Udhampur district under ' Rahat' initiative.

"The district administration has initiated a unique and innovative project 'Rahat' for construction of more than 110 foot bridges near schools and hamlets in remote areas of the district," District Development Commissioner (DDC) Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said.

He said that the aim is to facilitate the movement of students, local inhabitants and livestock in rainy season and to eliminate loss of life and property due to flooding of rivulets every year.

"The project has been initiated after 5-month long participatory planning process, formulation of designs and estimates, technical consultations, field visits and a series of meeting at various levels", he said.

The project team, headed by Choudhary, Assistant Commissioner Development (ADC) Dhanantar Singh, Executive Engineer Mehmood Ahmed, BDOs and AEEs, carried out extensive planning and public consultations for the project.

"Fifty one bridges are being constructed under Phase I of the project," he said, adding work for another 59 will begin next month under Phase-II," he said.

Altogether 110 villages will be covered in the first to stages.

Besides these, another set of 27 bridges will be constructed in Phase-III beginning April 2016, the DDC added.

'Rahat' was initiated following frequent accidental deaths, livestock perishing and students failing to attend schools in hilly areas due to immediate flooding of small rivulets, Choudhury said.

Through this drive we aim to eliminate loss of lives and property due to flooding of rivulets every year, he said.

The project will directly benefit more than 21,000 students of more than 130 schools and an overall population of more than 1,45,000 people.