RailEnquiry

Badal (Muktsar) :After boasting of several state-of-the-art facilities, including a shooting range and a stadium, the native village of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has now got a 1.2 km four-laned overbridge.Termed as the “VVIP Bridge” it will be opened to the general public tomorrow after its inauguration by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.Built at a cost of Rs 30 crore, the bridge has been built especially for the Badals. Waiting at the railway barrier would irritate the VIPs. Also, the barrier was seen as a potential security threat, explained officials.The bridge mainly connects Bathinda city to Badal village.Though there is invariably a long queue of vehicles at railway barrier No 184, a few hundred metres from the “VVIP Bridge”, the powers that be have preferred an overbridge to Badal village instead.Another bridge, just 400 metres from railway barrier No 184, provides direct connectivity to Ganpati Enclave, a residential-cum-commercial colony owned by a powerful politician-cum businessman.Adesh Gupta, XEN, said the bridge to Badal village had been built at a cost of Rs 30 crore. “It was started in March 2009. The bridge had to be given an almost 90 degree curve to allow it to pan over two railway lines and a ring road.”