YSR Congress party leader and Rajya Sabha member Y V Subba Reddy’s ambitious project in Visakhapatnam – the Vizag Floating Bridge (VFB), ahead of the assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh, appears to have been shelved.
Inaugurated by Subba Reddy in February amid a lot of fanfare and publicity, the Vizag Floating Bridge on the Beach Road, is now lying abandoned. Nobody is being allowed to get onto the bridge and people are coming there only to click selfies.
The project, the first of its kind facility in Vizag, conceptualised on the lines of floating sea bridge at Thrissur of Kerala, was set up by a private agency, Srisai Moksha Shipping and Logistics, with an investment of over Rs 1 crore.
Subba Reddy, who is also YSRCP regional coordinator, inaugurated it in February at a grand event, which was attended by several VIPs including Industries Minister Gudivada Amarnath, who went on a walk of the bridge.
However, a day after its inauguration, the bridge broke away with video clips of disintegrated parts of the structure going viral in the social media.
Even as the opposition parties launched a criticism, Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority (VMRDA) said the project was launched only on trial basis.
The authorities said as part of a mock exercise, they had allowed the structure to float into a few pieces due to choppy waters.
After that, despite frequent queries by the enthusiastic public, it has not been opened to the public suggesting the adventure tourism project has been more or less shelved.