BENGAL. Bengal
line
315
on the Calcutta side of the river, so as to avoid the A pontoon bridge already connects
present cost of transhipment.
Howrah
with Calcutta, but this
cart traffic.
After
much
is
only suitable for passenger and
discussion, a site for the railway bridge
was
selected about 23 miles north of Calcutta, near the town of Hugh'; the connecting branch railway running from the Hugh' station
Railway to the Naihati station of the Eastern Bengal Railway, a distance of 3I miles. The bridge, when completed, will present an imposing appearance, and the design is a novel one. of the East Indian
The
estimate
amounts
for
bridge
the
alone,
exclusive
of
approaches,
the
^353,700, of which the iron-work, machinery, etc., will cost ^125,000. The site selected for the bridge is a narrow reach of the river, where the main stream flows under the right bank. The depth of the main channel varies according to the season from 65 to 70 feet. The depth of water at the site of the two central piers is 24 and 36 feet below low-water mark, and it is intended that these piers should be sunk to a depth of 60 feet below the bed of the river. For steamer navigation, a clear headway of 35 feet above extreme flood level is proposed to be given. The bridge will be altogether 2roo feet in length, and will consist of a central double cantilever girder, 320 feet long, resting on two piers placed 120 feet apart in the middle of the channel of two main girders, each 440 feet in length, and each weighing 1400 tons, one on each side of the central girder; and of two masonry to
viaducts, each
A
abutment.
450
feet in
roadway, 26
length, extending inland feet wide, for
from each shore
a double line of
rails
is
also
provided, the extreme breadth from outside to outside of the main girders being 35I- feet. The wrought-iron caissons for the foundations of the central piers will be 66 feet long by 25 feet broad, with semicircular ends.
been made
The
girders are to be all of steel.
construction of the bridge was yet be assigned for
Canals
.
No
provision has
footway outside the girders for foot passengers.
for a
—The
its
commenced
The
in 1882, but a date
cannot
for irrigation purposes, in
Bengal
completion.
canals, navigable
are divided into three circles,
and
—the
Orissa, South-Western,
and Son,
—
each of which forms a distinct system of its own. At the close of r 881-82, there were in operation in Bengal, 456 miles of navigable canal, 2ro miles of canal for irrigation only, and 1943 miles of distributing channels, from which 1,326,868 acres can be irrigated. The capital invested in canals classed as productive works amounted at The total expenditure, imperial the close of 188T-82 to ;^5,245,798. and provincial, incurred in the irrigation branch of the Public Works
Department was
^ 559 335
Administration
.
.
—The
-
Civil Service
Covenanted and Uncovenanted.
is
divided into two classes— the
The former
includes
civil
servants
