Ahmedabad: Nod for footbridge near Camp Hanuman

AHMEDABAD: After a decade-long wait, the civic body's plan to erect a footbridge with escalators and elevators has finally received the go-ahead from the army cantonment authorities in Shahibaug.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) had proposed two footbridges within the Shahibaug ward for Rs 4 crore. One was to be constructed right in front of Camp Hanuman gate on Airport VIP Road for Rs. 1.94 crore. The other was to be built between Rajasthan Hindi School and Swaminarayan Complex on Ambedkar Road for Rs 2 crore. While design for the latter has been prepared, a tender for Camp Hanuman gate footbridge has been floated. The technical bid will be opened on October 6.
The budget for the footbridges proposed in Shahibaug ward was floated four years ago. “The footbridge at Camp Hanuman was needed since there's occasionally a rush of devotees during VIP visits. This had led to accidents in the past,” says a senior AMC official. A series of meetings went on between the AMC and cantonment officials. Finally, AMC got NOC from the cantonment.
In 2011, the AMC had approved a proposal to construct an escalator footbridge on the Nehrunagar-Shivranjani crossroad stretch, but the contractor had defaulted and was blacklisted by AMC.