Ishwardi (Pabna) Correspondent :
While inaugurating the historic Hardinge Bridge on March 4, 1915, the chief engineer of the bridge project, Sir Robert William Gales, passionately said, ‘The Bridge I have built will last forever if properly maintained.’ Although this bridge has been built for 110 years, there is no sign of aging on the bridge. The traditional Hardinge Bridge of Bangladesh is still standing in Birdarp after centuries of witnessing many rulers-exploiters and generations. 109 years ago, this bridge was built on the bank of Padma River that flows over Bangladesh. Padma was full of youth then. Padma’s youth is about to end now. But the eternally youthful Hardinge Bridge still stands tall on Padma’s bosom. This historic bridge has built one of the bridges in the north, south and east of Bangladesh. Hardinge Bridge connecting Pabna and Kushtia districts was once the longest railway bridge in Bangladesh.
The historic Hardinge Bridge has a history of construction. In 1889, the then British government felt the need to establish an uninterrupted communication system between Calcutta and the northern regions including Assam and Tripura and proposed the construction of this bridge. Although the proposal was not implemented at that time, the construction of the bridge was started after a few decades in 1909. The period of construction of the bridge was from 1909 to 1915.
The bridge was built by the tireless work of about 24 thousand 400 workers. According to the then estimates, the construction cost was 3 crore 51 lakh 32 thousand 164 rupees. The bridge was named Hardinge Bridge after the then Viceroy Lord Hardinge. The length of the bridge is 1 thousand 798.32 meters or 5 thousand 894 feet or 1.8 kilometers.
