Title - Railway over bridges work on slow track

BHUBANESWAR: Traffic snarls at busy level crossings in Bhubaneswar is likely to plague commuters for at least five more years, if the progress of work on the four proposed road over bridges (ROB) in the city is any indication.Even though the East Coast Railway (ECoR) announced the projects in 2009, none of the ROB work has so far seen light of the day. The bridges were proposed to come up Mancheswar, VSS Nagar, Saheed Nagar and Pokhariput, each at a cost of nearly Rs 45 crore, sources said.The state government will bear a matching expenditure of 50 per cent for the construction of the ROBs. While the Railways would engage its own expertise to build portion of the bridge falling under its jurisdiction (over the tracks), the state works department would entrust separate contractors to build the approach portion on the land that does not fall under ECoR ambit.Sources said the ECoR had awarded contracts for ROBs in Mancheswar, Pokhariput and Saheed Nagar in November 2011. However, the it is yet to float tender for the VSS Nagar ROB following stiff opposition by some locals during land acquisition.ECoR blamed the state government for making inordinate delay in acquiring land for the bridges. "We want to complete the projects as soon as possible as the movement of vehicles at the level crossings has increased a lot in last few years. But the state government is yet to finish up the land acquisition for the portion the former will build," a senior ECoR officer said."It is a time consuming process. We are taking steps to expedite the land acquisition process," chief engineer of design, planning, investigation (DPI) and roads, Bijan Behera told TOI.Residents alleged that the ECoR should have awarded contract only after acquiring the requisite land for the project. "We suspected that the contracts were awarded in a hurry with an ulterior motive," said Trideb Mohanty, a resident of Pokhariput.Even though railway officials said no major accidents have occurred at the four busy level-crossings, motorists urged the ECoR and state government to expedite the joint work at the earliest."The gate at Saheed Nagar level crossing near Maharshi College remains closed most of the time. It is very difficult to negotiate the bumper-to-bumper traffic when the gate opens. ROB should come up immediately," Pradipta Kumar Hota, a Bhubaneswar resident, said.