Minister orders bridge completion after tweet for help

Tribune News Service

Nangal, July 23

Residents of nearly a dozen villages, including Swamipur, are likely to get relief from the connectivity problem during the monsoon in near future courtesy an unidentified netizen who highlighted the issue through a tweet.

The netizen sought help from Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, local MLA and Cabinet minister Harjot Singh Bains. He also tweeted a video of flooding of Fatehwal Khad claiming that the temporary passage over it had been washed away and a large number of residents in many villages in the area were stuck.

In a series of tweets, he also claimed that bridge construction was stopped as funds were not released to the contractor.

Replying to it promptly, Bains said directions had been issued to officials concerned to visit the spot and release the funds. Soon the officials reached the spot and inquired about the situation.

In fact, the khud is flooded during monsoon every year cutting off Swamipur village from rest of the district. Residents of several other villages, including Handola and Jagatkhana, falling in Himachal Pradesh also use this route to reach their district headquarter Una.

In order to provide a permanent solution to the problem, former MLA Rana KP Singh laid the foundation stone of Rs 2.08-crore bridge on October 31 last year. The work is yet to be completed.

Contractor Manvinder Singh claimed he was not given a single penny against the bills worth Rs 60 lakh submitted as early as March 31. Claiming that the construction work on the bridge was continuing, the contractor said till now 60 per cent of work had been completed. It would be completed within the time-frame of nine months provided there was no paucity of funds, he said.

Ropar Deputy Commissioner Dr Preeti Yadav also claimed that the work on the bridge was continuing.

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