GHAZIABAD: The Ghaziabad Development Authority has asked the irrigation department to expedite work on a bridge that is being built over the Hindon canal to ease traffic coming from the Hindon Elevated Road, pointing out that the project is far from being complete even after missing a March deadline.“Work on the Kanawani bridge, which is being undertaken by the irrigation department, is moving at a slow pace. Since it has already missed its March deadline, a letter has been sent to the department to expedite work,” said VN Singh, executive engineer in the GDA The missive comes weeks after GDA vice-chairperson Ritu Maheshwari had expressed displeasure over the progress of the project. “Ritu Maheshwari had last month asked the irrigation department to wrap up the project by July. The department had sought time till August,” Singh said.The GDA has paid Rs 16 crore to the irrigation department for the construction of the bridge, work on which was started in March last year. Once complete, new bridge will act as a rotary along with the existing one over the Hindon canal. The GDA had planned the bridge anticipating huge traffic after a ramp to the elevated road was planned from there. Since the new bridge is yet to become operational, the area is proving to be a major bottleneck.“We had hoped the new bridge would coincide with the opening of Hindon Elevated Road. We want it completed as soon as possible,” Singh said.Asked about the tardy progress, an official of the irrigation department blamed a delay in shifting of water pipelines from the existing bridge. “The existing Kanwani bridge connects Vasundhara and Indirapuram. Since a water pipeline passes through this bridge, we had to make alternate arrangements to continue water supply to Vasundhara and Vaishali. This took a lot of time. Work now is going on in full swing and we expect to complete the project by August,” the official said.Singh said vehicles coming from Vasundhara would take the old bridge and the ones from CISF road would move on the new one. “A rotary is also coming up at the end of the bridge, which would allow traffic to make U-turns on both stretches,” he said.

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