Howrah Bridge

Hi friends. There was an old nursery rhyme, I hope you all know about it. It is called 'London Bridge is falling down'. Well, if you say so for Kolkata it will not be 'London Bridge' but it will definitely be 'Howrah Bridge' and that bridge hasn't fallen down yet. But do you know what was there before instead of our 'Rabindra Setu'? Well, the city of Howrah was planned as a small industrial brother of Kolkata. It is because of all the mills, factories were there in Howrah. Now if there are factories then there is a need to maintain the supply line of goods through some smooth routes. You can't carry everything in a boat to Kolkata. You will be amazed to know the fact that the first plan of building a bridge was chalked out even before the Sipahi Mutiny. That bridge was finally built in 1874. But that was not our today's 'Rabindra Setu'. So what happened to that old bridge.

 Well, that bridge was like a pontoon bridge and the bridge was used to float over some boats. When a ship used to pass by that bridge it could open from the center. But there was a problem. The lions share of the traffic over the bridge was Bullock cart. So in the times of high tides, the height of the bridge increases too much and the carts couldn't even get up on the bridge. As the time flowed by the traffic increased on the bridge and that's when the Government decided to build a new and large bridge. But, it is India you know( doesn't matter ruled by whom). The discussion began in 1906 that we need a new bridge. But again, a million dollars question arrived. " Excuse me, sir. if the new bridge will be established in the place of the old bridge unless the new bride is fully complete how will the people pass? by swimming? The Government said " It doesn't matter. We will come up with some alternative" and gave the permission to build the new bridge. But, again. The First World War arrived to ruin the party and the work was being delayed till 1921. Then again the famous discussion of this country began. "Sir, what kind of bridge we are going to build? Arch? Floating? Suspension? The discussion lasted for 14 years( Ram er Vanavas). Finally, it started in 1935 and it took 8 years to build it. In 1943, 3rd of February we finally had the fourth cantilever suspension bridge with four-lane traffic, two tram lines and wide pavements on both sides.

 There is a fun fact though. The companies, which were related to this humungous project, they still exist and I hope you know their names. The contract of the constructions was given to Braithwaite, Burns, and Jessop.  26500-ton steel was supplied by Tata Steel and to lighten up the bridge Phillips Chipped in. In 2005, while passing by under the bridge, a steamer got stuck there and caused huge damage. For repairs, the government had to write a letter to Tata Steel asking one more time for that Steel of 1943.