Surat: The iconic cable-stayed bridge connecting Adajan and Athwalines may have been ready, but the authorities are yet to finalize the date of its inauguration.Congress councillor Dinesh Kachadiya was detained by the city police from Athwalines when he tried to inaugurate the bridge on Monday. Kachadiya had announced that he will inaugurate the cable-stayed bridge as, “The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) and ruling BJP are deliberately delaying the inauguration of the bridge as they want the CM or the PM to inaugurate the bridge. The residents in Adajan have been eagerly waiting for the bridge to be opened for public use”Talking with TOI, Congress councillor, Dinesh Kachadiya said, “The work of cable-stayed bridge started in 2010 and it is almost eight years since the bridge is up and ready for public use. Commuters have been facing traffic jams on Sardar Bridge for past many years. The opening of the cable-stayed bridge would ease the traffic jam situation on Sardar Bridge as the traffic will be diverted.”The construction of the Rs 143 crore worth of cable-stayed bridge was taken up by the Gammon India Ltd sometime in October-2010. The deadline for completing the project was May 2013. However, the work on cable-stayed bridge was stalled for over a year, following the collapse of the curved portion of the Athwalines flyover connecting the cable-stayed bridge, which had claimed 10 lives.Rajesh Pandya, executive engineer of the bridge cell, said, “The bridge is ready to be opened for public use, but the load testing of the bridge is yet to be completed. If suppose the traffic is stuck on one side of the bridge then it should be able to carry the load. Otherwise, barring few small engineering works, the bridge is ready for use.”

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