Mann-led govt delayed crucial ROB on Doraha-Sahnewal rly crossing: Bittu

Ludhiana: Taking on chief minister Bhagwant Mann, Union MoS (railways and food processing industries) Ravneet Singh Bittu Saturday accused Punjab govt of deliberately delaying the crucial railway overbridge at the Doraha-Sahnewal main line level crossing.
He also announced plans to launch a public agitation if nothing was done about the ROB.
Bittu visited the site of the proposed railway overbridge and spoke to commuters about the difficulties they faced on the road every day. A total of 190 trains pass through this railway crossing, and more than 3,000 vehicles cross the point.
He said he had been flagging the issue of the railway overbridge, for which the Railways would bear 100% cost, for the past eight months. Despite this, the Punjab govt was not granting NoC, he added.
Bittu claimed that officials of the PWD department were not signing the drawing, which was mandatory since the ROB would begin and end in their jurisdiction.
He also maintained that the Railways had given in writing that maintenance and upkeep of service roads would be taken care of once construction started.
Sharing the background of the above-mentioned project, Bittu said the level crossing is located between Doraha and Sahnewal stations on Ambala-Ludhiana section in Northern Railway's Ambala division.
In the census of July 2022, around 6 lakh vehicles passed through the railway crossing, because of which the ROB was proposed.
A road overbridge (ROB) was being built on this line crossing by PWD, Punjab, based on the approved GAD (General Administrative Drawing) on July 18, 2014. PWD was executing this work through a private firm.
However, PWD terminated the work on Aug 5, 2021. Thereafter, considering the high vehicular movement, the work was sanctioned by the Railway Board on 100% railway cost amounting to Rs 70.56 crore on Feb 29, 2024.
The Railways is executing the work as a single entity. To prevent any contractual disputes at a later stage, the Railways wrote letters to the PWD on Sep 18, 2024, and Sep 23, 2024, for granting NoC and sharing available data of Doraha ROB.
Bittu said on Nov 11, 2024, PWD Punjab issued an NoC letter to the Railways, but some of the terms and conditions of the NoC were not acceptable to the Northern Railway. A meeting was held in the conference hall of the Punjab secretariat in Chandigarh on Jan 27 to resolve the issue regarding conditional NoC issued by PWD, Punjab, wherein it was decided that the state govt would take another look into the legal aspects of this issue.