Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
CONSTRUCTION work of 700-metre-long cable-stayed bridge, longest in the country, with a viewing gallery at the top at Ambhora in Kuhi tehsil is near completion. The bridge would be open for traffic in December this year providing a major boost to tourism at Shree Chaitanyeshwar Mahadev temple at Ambhora. It is set to open doors of development for the backward area of Kuhi and Umred tehsil.
Ambhora, located 75 km from Nagpur city, is a famous religious and tourist place in Vidarbha. It is situated at the confluence of five rivers -- Wainganga, Kanhan, Aam, Kolari and Murza. Just around a decade ago the river bank housing Ambhora used to see a flux of tourists from all over the State. However, the banks were submerged in water after the construction of Gosikhurd dam which led to rise in water levels. Since then, tourist flow at Ambhora has also declined. However, now with the construction of the new bridge tourists will get a chance see the scenic backwaters across the river bed which is more than 50 feet deep.
Construction of the cable-stayed bridge began in 2019 by T&T Infra Ltd, a Pune based company, after the State Public Works Department (PWD) awarded a contract of Rs 143 crore. Sunil Shinde, Project Manager, informed ‘The Hitavada’ that the bridge would be the longest cable-stayed bridge of the country with 700 metre length and 15.260 metre width. “The bridge will have footpaths on both sides and two lanes of 7.5 metre wide each on which four four-wheelers can travel at a time,” he said.
Five pylons have been constructed in the Wainganga river to support the bridge. Of which, the central pylon would be of 40 metre height. A viewing gallery would be constructed at the top of the central pylon to boost tourism, Shinde said. Tourists can access the viewing gallery from two capsule sized lifts and also by staircase. The gallery would have a carpet area of 325 square metre and will be covered by super thick glass. “Construction work of the bridge is almost complete and painting work would begin after the monsoon season,” stated Shinde.
The bridge would open connectivity to Bhandara district for the locals. As a result, vehicular traffic will increase in the area and it would boost tourism, feel the locals. Most of the residents of the eastern parts of Kuhi tehsil and Nagpur district work as farm labourers and there is no other job opportunity. A new dawn of development is round the corner for locals with the opening of the bridge, said Shinde.
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