Mukherjee's farewell gift to Bengal: A Rs. 208-cr bridge

A week after being nominated as UPA's presidential candidate, a Rs. 208-crore bridge connecting north Bengal to Bihar could be Pranab Mukherjee's parting gift to West Bengal.

A week after being nominated as UPA's presidential candidate, a Rs. 208-crore bridge connecting north Bengal to Bihar could be Pranab Mukherjee's parting gift to West Bengal.

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The proposed one-km bridge will not only connect some interior villages like Mahanandatola and Belaimari to Malda, but will also reduce the distance between Malda and north Bihar by 100 km.

"The road ministry on May 11 informed the Plan Panel that the bridge project has been sanctioned. A token provision of Rs. 1crore has been set aside for the project from the 2012-13 budget," said a senior road ministry official.

Mukherjee had been pushing for sanctioning the project and had written to road minister CP Joshi last year to expedite it.

Following Mukherjee's letter, Joshi had written to the plan panel asking for budgetary support.

Poll campaign: Pranab heads south
Pranab Mukherjee is set to kick start his presidential poll campaign from south India on June 30.

Mukherjee plans to hold meetings in Chennai, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram and Bangalore with UPA's MLAs and MPs. "He will also try to reach out to opposition parties as far as possible in these states," said Mukherjee's key aide Pradyut Guha, who resigned as Mukherjee's additional personal secretary on Wednesday to help his boss with the campaign.