Kolhapur: The contractor involved the construction of a parallel bridge on the Panchganga river has agreed to resume the work on Friday morning, following an assurance that all his issues would be addressed soon.The contractor had stopped the work on last Monday because of a dispute with a deputy engineer of the national highway and clearance of payment to him.The decision on resuming the work was taken at a high-level meeting called by district collector Avinash Subhedar on Thursday. Mayor Sarita More, national highway executive engineer Vijay Kandgave, the contractor, N D Lad, and representatives of the all-party action committee were present for the meeting.The action committee members insisted that work start immediately saying that the interest of people is above everything.Kandgave said during the meeting that he would personally look into the payment issue of the contractor immediately. While the contractor has claimed that he had spent Rs 175 crore, the executive engineer said Rs 90 lakh would be released immediately. He also said that the remaining amount would be paid after completing the formalities as early as possible.Lad promised to start the work after the collector and the mayor requested him in that regard. More also warned that the citizens of Kolhapur will not tolerate any further delay in the work.When Lad demanded that deputy engineer Sampat Aabdar be kept away from the work, Kandgave said he another official would be appointed in the place of Aabdar.The meeting witnessed some tense moments when the representatives of the action committee tried to manhandle Aabdar. Police had to intervene to pacify the angry members.The new bridge is coming up parallel to the existing Shivaji bridge on the Panchganga river. The Shivaji bridge is the only link between Kolhapur and Ratnagiri and always witnesses traffic jams because of the huge number of vehicles, particularly heavy vehicles, crossing it.The all party action committee had warned that they would close the Shivaji bridge and set a week’s deadline to resume work on the parallel bridge.

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