<div align="justify">A portion of a vital under-construction bridge near Balimela reservoir in Malkangiri district has collapsed due to incessant rains in the region.<div align="justify"><br />Three girders of the Gurupriya bridge between columns 10 and 11 caved in due to heavy rains yesterday, works secretary N K Pradhan said.<br /><br />Though the incident took place when people were working on the 910 metre-long bridge, there was no casualty, he said.<br /><br />No major damage to the bridge was reported, he said.<br /><br />The bridge would be vital from the security point of view as it would connect Chitrakonda with Maoist pockets in the cut-off areas.<br /><br />As a result of the collapse, the completion of the bridge would be delayed by at least two months, Pradhan said.<br /><br />Septemeber, 2017 was the deadline for completion of the work.<br /><br />On completion, the much-awaited bridge would provide road connectivity to around 154 villages spread over seven panchayats with a population of 30,000 tribals in the cut-off areas of the district.<br /><br />Construction of the bridge had earlier been delayed due to several reasons.<br /><br />Initially contractors were not ready to take up the job in view of Maoist threat.<br /><br />A Kolkata-based construction company took over the construction after Gammon India Limited abandoned the project after a series of attacks on its men and machinery.<br /><br />The foundation stone of the bridge was laid way back in 1982 by the then Chief Minister JB Patnaik and again by present Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in 2000.<br /><br />Initially, the construction work was assigned to the Odisha Bridge Construction Corporation (OBCC) and later taken up by GIL and finally it was being executed by a Kolkata-based company.</div></div>
<div align="justify">A portion of a vital under-construction bridge near Balimela reservoir in Malkangiri district has collapsed due to incessant rains in the region.<div align="justify"><br />Three girders of the Gurupriya bridge between columns 10 and 11 caved in due to heavy rains yesterday, works secretary N K Pradhan said.<br /><br />Though the incident took place when people were working on the 910 metre-long bridge, there was no casualty, he said.<br /><br />No major damage to the bridge was reported, he said.<br /><br />The bridge would be vital from the security point of view as it would connect Chitrakonda with Maoist pockets in the cut-off areas.<br /><br />As a result of the collapse, the completion of the bridge would be delayed by at least two months, Pradhan said.<br /><br />Septemeber, 2017 was the deadline for completion of the work.<br /><br />On completion, the much-awaited bridge would provide road connectivity to around 154 villages spread over seven panchayats with a population of 30,000 tribals in the cut-off areas of the district.<br /><br />Construction of the bridge had earlier been delayed due to several reasons.<br /><br />Initially contractors were not ready to take up the job in view of Maoist threat.<br /><br />A Kolkata-based construction company took over the construction after Gammon India Limited abandoned the project after a series of attacks on its men and machinery.<br /><br />The foundation stone of the bridge was laid way back in 1982 by the then Chief Minister JB Patnaik and again by present Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in 2000.<br /><br />Initially, the construction work was assigned to the Odisha Bridge Construction Corporation (OBCC) and later taken up by GIL and finally it was being executed by a Kolkata-based company.</div></div>