It is a sort of anti-climax. The inauguration of a mega-rail bridge over river Ganga between Digha (Patna) and Sonepur (Saran) turned out to be an extremely low-key affair with––not to speak of prime minister or railway minister––even minister of state for railways, Manoj Sinha––an MP from Ghazipur in east UP who often visits Bihar––deeming it fit not to flag off the Patliputra-Barauni DEMU on February 3––exactly 14 years after the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee laid its foundation stone.

It is not too far back that railway ministers from Bihar would travel all the way from Delhi to inaugurate foot overbridge and computerized reservation counter in little known stations in their home state.

But why is it that none appeared to grace this occasion when the revised cost of this bridge was Rs 2,921.46 crore. It is not that the BJP leaders are not so keen in cutting ribbons. But in this project they see no political benefit as the Bihar Assembly election has just ended and Lok Sabha election is three years from now.

In fact on July 25 last when Narendra Modi visited Patna he inaugurated a couple of rail projects––at least one of them an old one. The Digha-Sonepur bridge could not be thrown open then as it was not complete. Then came the election and thus no new project could be inaugurated.

Thus it was left upto the BJP quartet of Sushil Kumar Modi, Nand Kishore Yadav, Prem Kumar and Mangal Pandey and several other party leaders to take part in the inaugural journey. None from the Bihar government––even chief minister Nitish Kumar––was present on the occasion.

Incidentally, he was the railway minister and very much present when Vajpayee on February 3, 2002, laid the foundation stone from a remote button in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan. The then CM Rabri Devi too was presaent.

Initially, the plan was to build only a rail bridge. However, when Lalu Prasad became the railway minister in May 2004––after UPA came to power––he converted it into rail-cum-road bridge.

This was obviously done to lessen the pressure on Mahatma Gandhi Setu, whose condition is not very good and needs regular repair work.

Not only was the inaugural rail journey a low key affair, the first train to cross river Ganga, was stopped for over four hours at Pahleja railway station as the local people wanted it to be renamed as Bharpura. Their argument was that the station is situated in this village and the local people’s land was acquired for this project.

It was after much persuasion that they agreed to lift the ‘rasta-roko’. Hundreds of stranded passengers, which included many BJP leaders and workers, were literally left high and dry as there was no eating or drinking facility at Pahleja station. Some of these leaders returned to Patna by their cars.

The district administration and railways did not use extra force as they did not want the situation to turn ugly in the very first journey.

However, there is a general perception that had it been a high profile inauguration, hardly anyone would have dared to resort to agitation.