Differences over Karhera bridge layout

A day after a group of researchers, scientists, activists, led by Magsaysay Award winner Rajendra Singh, visited the construction site of Karhera bridge over river Hindan in Ghaziabad

A day after a group of researchers, scientists, activists, led by Magsaysay Award winner Rajendra Singh, visited the construction site of Karhera bridge over river Hindan in Ghaziabad, project executing agency, the UP Irrigation department officials said that the bridge-design was prepared by the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) with the help of a private consultant and would cost around Rs 50 crore extra if the scheduled-bridge was constructed over pillars.

The Karhera-bridge, around 1 km in length, is under-construction and would connect Karhera to newly developed Rajnagar Extension residential area, with 3-lane road.

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Activists, who arrived on a fact-finding mission on Monday, raised concerns against a 500 meter solid-structure, a part of the bridge, and termed the project as an ‘environmental disaster’ which allegedly altered the natural course of the river.

“The entire design was prepared by GDA through a private consultant based at Ghaziabad. We are only executing the project on their behalf,” Gyas Alam, project in-charge and Irrigation department executive engineer, told Hindustan Times.

On the other hand, GDA’s chief engineer Anil Garg refuted Alam’s claims and said that the entire design, plan and layout was prepared by Irrigation-department and GDA, combined.