Title - Railway over bridges hang fire, commuters suffer

For thousands of commuters who have to pass through the railway level- crossings in the City on a daily basis, the congestion and wait will continue. For neither the Railways nor the State Government are showing any interest to take up the construction of the road over bridges (ROB) which had been approved two years ago.There are four level-crossings in the City, two near VSS Nagar and one each at Sahid Nagar and Pokhariput. Both Railways and the State Government have planned to close these level-crossings by providing ROBs on a cost share basis. While the Railways constructs the bridges, the Public Works Department constructs the approach roads. Railways had awarded contracts to three of these ROBs in 2011 but in the wake of low budgetary allocations, there has not been much progress. The State Government has not set targets for its portions of work. The ROB near VSS Nagar Market is estimated at Rs  47.27 crore out of which Railways’ share stands at Rs 22.24 crore. However, the amount spent till date is barely ` 1.10 crore. The second ROB near BSNL Colony is estimated at Rs  49.11 crore with Railways share standing at ` 21.54 crore but here too,  Rs 0.14 crore has been spent. The estimated cost for Sahid Nagar ROB is projected at Rs 35.28 crore, including the Railways share of Rs  14.72 crore but so far, just about  Rs  0.50 crore has been spent. The Pokhariput ROB is estimated at Rs 44.51 crore but the expenditure is just about ` 0.68 crore.

 Though bridges were sanctioned by both the organisations in 2009-10, work has started after arrangement of diversions recently. The ROB near VSS Nagar market has not started due to strong protest by public to shift the location.

 “The Railways has fixed December as the deadline for its share of works but the State is yet to do any. Though time lines have been fixed, funds allotments by the Railways for 2012-13 were just ` 1.17 crore, ` 1.18 crore and ` 1.20 crore. So completion of its works depends on future allotment of budget,” sources said.

 Once diversions are set for the works, public finds it very difficult to cross the level-crossings due to space constraint. If the projects linger, cost will spiral and public inconvenience will grow.