The ring road project faces further delay as construction of two railway overbridges (RoBs) has been stopped for the lack of permission from the railways, said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials.

The construction work of the ring road is being carried out by the NHAI. The agency is expected construct two RoBs on the Jaipur-Delhi and Jaipur-Sawai Madhopur railway tracks as part of the project.

The NHAI official said the work on the RoBs was stopped as the permission was awaited from the railways. The officials said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Road Transport on November 10, 2014 for the construction of road over/under bridges as part of the National Highway Corridor, which is not being followed in its truest sense by the railways.

As per the MoU, the NHAI was expected to deposit a token amount at the rate of Rs 5 lakh per ROB with the railways, along with way-leave charges of Rs 6,000 per annum up to two-lane road crossing and two railway tracks and Rs 12,000 per annum for wider roads and tracks. All other charges such as supervision charges, departmental charges, maintenance charges and land lease charge were exempted.

However, as per a letter by the Divisional Railway Manager’s office dated June 3, 2019, addressed to the Project director of NHAI, the railways have asked the NHAI to submit about Rs 3 crore “at the earliest”. “Further, an agreement is required to be executed by work executing agency with railways before execution of work at the site,” the letter stated.

Informing about the stop in the construction of the ROBs, Ajay Bishnoi, project director, NHAI, said that work on the sites has not been carried out for past two months. “The launching process of several assembled parts was to be carried out at the site of ROB. However, the railways have not provided us with permission regarding the same and therefore the work has not been carried out for at least past two months,” said Bishnoi.

Out of the two ROBs, one is to be constructed between Kanauta and Khatipura stations and the other is to be constructed between Shivdaspura and Padampura stations.

In November 11, 2018, the NHAI wrote a letter to the railways, stating that an amount of Rs 2935,560 has been submitted by JDA/NHAI with the railways with respect to the ROBs. “Moreover, the way-leave charges @ Rs 12,000 per RoB may also be adjusted along with token amount of Rs 500,000 per RoB from the already deposited amount. As the already deposited amount is much more against the amount required to be deposited as per MoU between MoRTH/MoR,” said the letter.

Abhay Sharma, chief public relations officer, North Western Railways, said that there is a difference of opinion between the departments, which is being sorted out. “The two departments are already in touch, railways have given its reasoning to the department and the matter is being pursued at the highest level,” he said.

First Published: Jun 08, 2019 11:46 IST