Mukerian, January 5
Construction of a railway overbridge (ROB) on the level crossing across the Mukerain-Gurdaspur road finally started with the Union Railways Ministry completing pile testing formalities here last week.

The project, costing around Rs 20 crore, would be completed in 13 months after the state government floated tenders for its construction. The construction work of the 810 metres long ROB is being jointly carried out by the Railways and the building and roads wing of the Punjab Public Works Department (PWD).

While three spans over the level crossing are being constructed by the Railways, the rest on the either sides of the railway lines would be constructed by the PWD (B&R).

The Railways has allocated the work to MG Contractors Private Limited, a Panchkula-based construction company.

Tanuj Kumar, spokesperson of the company, said the pile testing has been completed and a report in this regard has been sent to the Railways for designing.

After receiving the design from the ministry, the other formalities would be completed and the work would be started by the second week of February, he added.

Sub Divisional Officer (PWD), Mukerian, Jatinder Mohan revealed that tenders have been called by the government and the work would be allocated to the bidders on merit basis.

He, however, claimed that the traffic on the road would be diverted through alternative routes after the Railways start its job.

With the coming up of the ROB, traffic snarls on this busy road will end. The level crossing has been putting the road users to a great hardship as it remains closed for long hours.

More than 50 trains pass through the crossing daily. Long queues of vehicles on either sides of the crossing are a common sight here.

The worst affected are patients, school students, office goers and people who have to take buses from Mukerian to reach Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Delhi and Chandigarh.