MUNGER The long-awaited road bridge on river Ganga, connecting Sahepur Kamal in Begusarai district with Munger in Bihar, was thrown open for public at a function here on Friday, over 20 years after its foundation stone was laid by the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002.

The railway part of the rail-cum-road bridge, named after Bihar’s first chief minister Shrikrishna Singh, was opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2016.

While chief minister Nitish Kumar was present in Munger for Friday’s inauguration event, Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari, his junior minister VK Singh and union rural development minister Giriraj Singh joined the function virtually.

Gadkari said the central government was currently executing road and bridge projects worth ₹2 lakh crore in Bihar. “The ministry is planning to launch additional projects worth ₹3 lakh crore in the next couple of years,” he said, asking the state road transport minister Nitin Nabin to come up with fresh investment proposals.

Recalling the launching of work of the rail-cum-road bridge, Kumar said people of the area had celebrated the occasion like Diwali by lighting their houses at night when Vajpayee laid its foundation stone on January 26, 2002.

The first allotment for the bridge was made in the supplementary to the railway budget in 1997. However, the foundation stone for it was laid during the stint of Nitish Kumar as railway minister, officials sad.

Locals in Munger said the nearest road bridge on Ganga is more than 55 km away.

Meanwhile, CM Kumar also urged Gadkari to allow production of more quantity of ethanol in Bihar, which is rich in resource for production of the biofuel. He said the central government had granted permission to produce only 35.28 crore litres of ethanol by 17 units per annum against the proposals of 187 crore litres by 29 units. “The Centre must consider the proposal to allow the state produce at least 125 crore litres of ethanol per annum in keeping with availability of resources like molasses and maize,” Kumar said, adding that entire country should benefit from abundance of ethanol in Bihar.

Gadkari, in his speech, asked Bihar to be ready to reap the opportunity of growing use of bio-ethanol, as many noted companies had evinced interest in launching a range of vehicles with flex (flexible fuel) engines.

Deputy chief ministers Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi also addressed the gathering.

Kumar, who earlier inaugurated a vital bridge on Mani river, a tributary to Ganga, in the way from Munger to Bhagalpur, said that the state government had also undertaken various projects worth ₹54,000 crore on its own to strengthen the road communication. He cited the complicated land acquisition process for delay in construction of the approach road to the rail-cum-road bridge.