Mancherial-Peddapalli bridge remains elusive as plans shift

The long-pending high-level bridge across the Godavari river between Mancherial and Peddapalli districts continues to face setbacks. Initially proposed in 2018 at Rs 125 crore, the project was scrapped in 2023 despite administrative sanction

Mancherial: A high-level bridge across the Godavari river between Mancherial and Peddapalli districts remains a distant dream for people from the two entities.

A bridge was proposed across the river between Mancherial town and Anthargaon village at an estimated cost of Rs 125 crore in 2018. The bridge was to cut down the travelling distance between Mancherial and Peddapalli towns by 20 kilometres. But the work did not take off supposedly due to a fund crunch.

However, administrative sanction was accorded by enhancing the cost to Rs 164 crore in 2023. Accordingly, tenders were called and an agency was selected. Soil tests and other work commenced. But the construction proposal was scrapped by the present MLA Kokkirala Premsagar Rao in 2023, citing traffic congestion caused by the movement of heavy vehicles in the town. In 2025, the State government issued an order cancelling the bridge.

Another bridge was proposed across the river but this time, the bridge site was shifted. The new bridge is to come up across Godavari at Mulkalla and Murmur villages. But, it was pegged at Rs 450 crore.

Similarly, the travelling distance is going to be reduced by barely 5 kilometers. Around 100 acres of agriculture lands are to be acquired for bridge construction between Mulkalla and Murmur villages as against 15 acres needed for the earlier bridge between Mancherial and Anthargaon villages.

Already, farmers in different villages in Hajipur are opposing land acquisition for NH 63 greenfield highway. They have approached the High Court seeking realignment of the highway. They argued that they had already given away lands for creation of the Sripada Yellampalli irrigation project built across the Godavari river. They regretted that their lives would be thrown out of gear if their leftover farms were acquired for the project again.