Ganga ghat near Bhagalpur beneath Vikrashila Setu

I visited at Ganga ghat near Bhagalpur beneath Vikrashila Setu. While going there I saw almost dumped Barari railway station and employees quarters. Till 2001 when this bridge was officially opened, the people crossed the river through big steamers to reach Naugachhia ghat across the river Ganga. I had experiences of such travelling through Railway’s steamers many times from Pahleja Ghat (near Sonepur) to Mahendru Ghat to visit Patna when I was young. I’d no personnel experiences to see the changes when some old and historic bridges like Rajghat bridge in Varanasi and Howrah bridge in Kolkata were constructed but, definitely, I has seen the changes in life when Gandhi Setu (Patna) and Vikramshila Setu (Bhagalpur) came into the existence. Just two decades ago whenever I visited Bhagalpur I preferred to reach there by 7.00 p.m. because if my train was delayed, I could not get three-wheeler to reach in-laws house at Sabour. Though the distance is just around 10 kms and famous Bhagalpur Jail, Engineering College and Agriculture college are located there, activists on roads were thin after 7.00-8.00 p.m. but today the situation has changed. Hundreds of loaded trucks, and other vehicles can be seen round the clock. This bridge has changed the entire picture expanding Bhagalpur city areas even behind Sabour. DPS and other institutions apart from scores of multi-storey apartments came into existence. 

  Vikramshila Setu, a bridge across the river Ganga near Bhagalpur (Bihar), is 3rd longest bridge over water in the country after Bandra-Worli Sea Link in Mumbai (5600 metres) and Mahatma Gandhi Setu near Patna (5575 metres) and 118th longest bridge in the world. This 4700 m long Vikramshila Setu  has two lanes with pedestrian footpaths on both its sides unlike four-lane Gandhi Setu (Patna) and due to huge traffic congestion, now demands are being raised for construction of yet another parallel bridge there. This bridge serves as a link between NH 80 and NH31 running on the opposite sides of the river. It runs from Barari Ghat on the Bhagalpur side on the south bank of the Ganga to Naugachia on the north bank. It also connects Bhagalpur to Purnia and Kathiar, reducing the road travel distance between Bhagalpur and places across the Ganges considerably and also providing connectivity from Patna via Munger, Bhagalpur (NH-80) with Naugachhia and Patna via Begusarai, Khagaria, Naugachhia (NH-31), Purnia, Kathiar, Kishanganj, Siliguri, Darjeeling besides Northeastern states like Sikkim, Assam and others. At the same time it also offered connectivity from Jharkhand via Dumka-Bhagalpur and Sahebganj-Kahalgaon-Bhagalpur to NH-31 (also known as Assam road). 

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@Ramesh singh special correspondent The pioneer varanasi