Prayagraj’s Phaphamau bridge to be turned into Ganga museum soon
PRAYAGRAJ : Efforts have begun to transform the historical twostorey rail-road Phaphamau bridge over the Ganga river, popularly known as Curzon Bridge, into a Ganga museum. Divisional commissioner Sanjay Goyal, while chairing a meeting held earlier this week, instructed authorities concerned to find experts and prepare a detailed report as to how this around 117-year-old bridge, which has been abandoned by the railways now, can be converted into a museum.
The meeting was held in view of the all-round development of the Sangam city and to take stock of the city development plan with all the officers concerned. In the meeting, various theme-based projects were discussed to further develop the district from the point of view of tourism and infrastructure.
In this sequence, instructions have been given to the expert agency to prepare a detailed action plan with special attention to the projects which will further highlight the spiritual, cultural and historical heritage of the city.
Last year too, the state government had floated a plan to develop this bridge as a skywalk to enlighten the masses about the various cultures sprouted along and around Ganga. The idea was to have a multimedia infotainment system, which will narrate culture, heritage, temples, food, clothes, mythology sprouted along the river Ganga. The skywalk was to be made of glass supported by metal frames and ropes with solar panels on top, to power the light system of the bridge.
The construction of the Lord Curzon Bridge that catered to both rail and vehicular traffic was sanctioned in 1901 as a state railway bridge. The bridge has a single broad gauge (BG) line between the girders and a roadway on top. The engineer-incharge was Robert Richard Gales. It had opened for railway traffic on June 15, 1905, and for road traffic on December 20, 1905.
Deeming the bridge unsafe for rail and road traffic, the railways decided to close and demolish the bridge in 1998.
This rail-cum-road bridge built in the northern part of Sangam city is the third oldest bridge in the city after the oldest Naini Bridge (1865) and the second oldest bridge over the Tons river in the district.
This bridge was officially named Motilal Nehru Setu after independence. But people knew this bridge made of steel commonly only by the name of Lord Curzon Bridge and it is still often referred to by this name.
“The idea of developing this bridge as a River Museum is based on the fact that there are not many such places in the country and Prayagraj has a unique identity because of Sangam. We would like to develop the idea further, in line with the proposed development of the bridge as skywalk initiated by the state government last year,” said divisional commissioner Sanjay Goyal.
The themes of projects that were discussed in the meeting were focused on increasing the use of environmentally green and solar energy, projects to renovate historical abandoned sites and important buildings to highlight the cultural heritage of Prayagraj.
Besides, projects to renovate ASI protected monuments, various other themes like development of spiritual circuit for pilgrims, riverfront development from tourism point of view and heritage walks were also discussed. It was also suggested to develop the road leading from Mankameshwar to the old Naini bridge with a view to riverfront development. In this sequence, it has also been suggested to prepare a detailed action plan for further development of Bhardwaj Park.