Villagers cross the Raidak river at Belguri in Dhubri on a country boat

June 4: Two new bridges will deliver Dhubri from a litany of woes.

While one bridge will connect Ramrai Kutir Satra, a famous pilgrimage site for Vaishnavites, by the shortest route, the other will save cultivable land.

The DoNER ministry in a recent meeting held in Delhi sanctioned a bridge over regular channel Gadadhar on Sileirpar-Borshijhora Road and another on Belguri-Satrasal Road.

According to sources, for the bridge over the Gadadhar, estimated to Rs 450.73 lakh, a detailed project report already been submitted by the state government.

The other bridge, over river Raidak on Belguri-Satrasal Road, which will cost Rs 273.31 lakh, has been sanctioned.

The bridge over the Raidak, which connects Ramrai Kutir at Satrasal, had been a long-standing demand of over 1.5 lakh people living in 22 villages under Agomoni development block.

The 6-km road leads to the Ramrai Kutir of Satrasal, a pilgrimage site for the Vaishnavites where the historical marriage ceremony of Bir Chilarai (younger brother of King Naranarayan of Coochbehar) and Bhubaneswari Devi (daughter of Ramrai and cousin of Srimanta Sankardev) took place.

Mosihur Rahman Wahid, a resident of Belguri village said this is a welcome news for the villagers of the area. Despite their best efforts to get the fund sanctioned by the Agomoni development block and the public works department, nothing had happened, Wahid said. Feroz Alom of Agomoni, too, was thrilled with the sanctioning of the bridge over river Gadadhar on Sileirpar-Borshijhora Road and construction of an RCC bridge on Belguri-Satrasal Road in Dhubri.

Villagers of Belguri, located near National Highway number 31(C), said even for emergency medical services, people have to cross Raidak by small country boats.