Complete railway over bridge construction in fixed time period: Bhiwani residents

A railway over bridge committee formed by Bhiwani residents has held the state Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) responsible for the delay in the construction of the ongoing railway over bridge on LC 52 on the Rewari- Bathinda rail section in Bhiwani.

Held at the Shyam Bagh Meeting Hall located on Dinod Road, the meeting was presided over by the pradhan of the committee, Lala Pehalwan.

Pehalwan said they have raised the demand for construction of service roads with retaining walls on both sides of the under-construction overbridge. The office-bearers of the committee, including general secretary Ram Singh Vaidya, vice-president Ompal Chauhan, and convener Rohtas Verma, said that a time period should be fixed for the ROB construction work.

'Top officials responsible for delay'

• Hold top officials of Chandigarh and Bhiwani offices of the Public Health Engineering Department responsible for the delay in the ROB construction work
• Residents committee have raised the demand for construction of service roads with retaining walls on both sides of the under-construction overbridge.
• The ROB project was finalised following a prolonged demand of the people in 2018 as the railway crossing affected the convenient movement of about 60,000 residents of the area
• While laying the piles of the bridge, the sewerage line was not removed on time, due to which the work was halted for many days, allege residents

Pehlwan however alleged that the Public Health Engineering Department was creating hurdles in the construction of the bridge right from the beginning. While laying the piles of the bridge, the sewerage line was not removed on time, due to which the work was halted for many days. Work on the pillar had to be stopped at the Krishna Colony, he said.

He further alleged that at the Jeetu Wala colony side, despite repeated requests, the PHED officials kept making excuses in shifting work of sewer and water lines. He said that the reasons for the delay should be investigated as responsibility also lies with the concerned officials.

The members present at the meeting held the top officials of Chandigarh and Bhiwani offices of the Public Health Engineering Department responsible for the delay in the ROB construction work. The officials of the Chandigarh headquarters also did not take any cognisance of this matter, Pehlwan alleged.

The pradhan said that Bhiwani Mahendragarh MP Dharambir Singh, in a meeting held two days ago, had pulled up the officials for the delay and also issued directions to impose penalty on the officials concerned for THE delay. The members strongly supported the MP's directions to investigate the matter for delay and to fix the accountability and to impose a fine on the officials to compensate for the extra expenses incurred due to the delay of 18 months in the construction of the bridge.

The project was finalised following a prolonged demand of the people in 2018 as the railway crossing affected the convenient movement of about 60,000 residents of the area.

Though the then Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar laid the foundation stone of the project on October 27, 2020, work began about 6 months later, on April 21, 2021 in the presence of MP Dharambir Singh and Bhiwani MLA Ghanshyam Sharaf.