DEHRADUN: The Rispana Bridge which is considered by many as the gateway to Garhwal got a new name on Monday. On the instructions of chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, the name of the bridge has been changed to Swami Dayanand Saraswati.The move has drawn a sharp criticism from the Opposition Congress, which said that rather than changing names of places, the BJP government should focus on providing better infrastructure and facilities to people of the Himalayan state.An official communication from the chief minister’s office confirmed that additional chief secretary Om Prakash has passed the orders to rename the bridge, which connects majority of the areas of Garhwal with the state capital.BJP district chief Vinay Goel maintained that it was important to give due respect to the legends and “we have done that.” He added, “The Opposition party believes in one family and they cannot stand the felicitation of anyone else other from this family, so their criticism is obvious.”However, the Congress leaders did not appear too pleased with the argument. Congress state vice president Suryakant Dhasmana said, “It is not a new bridge, no new work has been done on it nor any new project appears to be in the offing, so what is the point of remaining the bridge. Had it been made by the BJP, it would have been a justified move but renaming historic locations for no reason makes no sense.”He added that the bridge is a part of the Haridwar road. “The Haridwar-Dehradun highway project has been in the doldrums for past many years. It would have been better had the government taken a final decision on the issue rather than wasting time in planning the renaming of the bridge,” Dhasmana said.

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