Havelock Bridge back in focus again

"National monument status for the grand old structure has been a long-standing demand"

Will the historic Sir Arthur Elibank Havelock Bridge across the Godavari be declared a national monument? The issue, which has been hanging fire for long, has come to the fore again, as Union Minister of State for Railways Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy is going to inspect the bridge on Saturday.

Timeline
For those who have little knowledge about the bridge, a look at the timeline presents some interesting facts. In January 1897, a survey was undertaken in the Godavari Basin to explore the possibility of constructing a bridge across the river by British Chief Engineer F.T.C. Walton. Five acres of land was identified between Kovvuru and Rajahmundry, where water flow was less. A local contractor was tasked with executing the project under the direct supervision of Walton.

The entire consignment of cement needed was brought by ship from England and workers were sourced from Europe and Punjab. A total of 54 spans were laid in an extent of 23,000 square feet. The British government sanctioned an amount of Rs. 50,40,457 for construction of the bridge. The actual expenditure incurred was only Rs. 46,89,849. The morality of the contractor deserves special mention. He had returned the excess amount of Rs.3,50,698.

Governor of erstwhile Madras State Sir Arthur Elibank Havelock opened the bridge to train traffic on August 6, 1900. The Madras Mail between Madras and Howrah was the first train to run on that day.

After serving the Indian Railways for over a century, the bridge was abandoned. When I.K. Gujral was the Prime Minister, president and secretary respectively of the Andhra Kesari Yuvajana Samiti Y.S. Narasimha Rao and Veerla Ravibabu undertook a fast demanding that the bridge be declared a national monument.

Later, when Congress came to power in 2004, MP Vundavalli Aruna Kumar and MLA Rowthu Suryaprakasa Rao took up the issue at the government level. Jakkampudi Rammohana Rao, who was then R&B Minister, took the initiative to make the bridge a tourist spot. The municipal corporation, during the tenure of M.S. Chakravarti as Mayor, passed a resolution expressing its willingness to take up a beautification project. It had even expressed its readiness to pay some amount as lease to the Railways. Later, when Anam Ramnarayana Reddy was Minister for Information and Tourism, Mr. Suryaprakasa Rao took up the issue with him. Mr. Ramnarayana Reddy visited the bridge along with Mr. Aruna Kumar and Mr. Suryaprakasa Rao.

The Minister had then said that the Railway Ministry had agreed to hand over the bridge to the Tourism Department on an annual lease of Rs.1 lakh. Consultants were appointed to construct a pedestrian pathway to enable tourists take a stroll. The Minister had even told the Assembly that the Havelock Bridge would be handed over to the government for maintaining it as a national monument.

It is now up to Mr. Suryaprakash Reddy to make the dream project come true.