Five years on, railway overbridge project in Ballabgarh yet to begin

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad, August 28

The widening project of the railway overbridge (ROB) in Ballabgarh town to connect it with the Sohna highway is yet to begin. The announcement of the project was made five years ago.

Since it was a traffic bottleneck, the two-laned bridge was proposed to be four laned to ease traffic movement.

Traffic bottleneck

The two-lane bridge is a major bottleneck for traffic moving towards NIT and Sohna from the National Highway 19 and Ballabgarh. SK Sharma, District Coordinator, NGO

Nod awaited

The process of making a DPR and floating a tender will be taken up after getting the nod from the head office. Rahul Singh, Executive Engineer, HSRBDC

“Though the announcement was made in 2017, it is almost five years now and there is no progress on ground.The commuters are battling traffic congestion woes daily,” claim sources in the administration. They say the project may take another two years to be completed.

“Since the announcement was made by the Chief Minister, the delay is quite astonishing. Commuters continue to face the hardships, especially during peak hours,” says S K Sharma, District Coordinator, Road Safety Organisation (RSO), an NGO, engaged in traffic management. He said the two-lane bridge was a major bottleneck for traffic moving towards NIT and Sohna from the National Highway 19 and Ballabgarh town.

“It might take 20 to 30 minutes during peak hours to cross the overbridge and it can be more harassing,” says Umesh Sharma, a resident.

The matter got highlighted recently after district officials announced that an agreement over the issue of compensation of land to be acquired had been reached and a proposal submitted to the authorities for the final nod. Disagreement between land owners and officials concerned over the compensation had been one of the major causes of delay, claim the officials of the Haryana State Roads and Bridge Development Corporation (HSRBDC). The corporation is to take up the project.

Rahul Singh, Executive Engineer, HSRBDC, said the process of making a DPR and floating a tender would be taken up after getting the nod from the head office. He said while the total estimated cost of the project was Rs 67 crore, a budget of Rs 16 crore had been proposed as compensation of one acre, which needed to be acquired. The land is both residential and industrial, it is added.

Disagreement has led to delay

• The issue got highlighted recently after district officials announced that an agreement over the issue of compensation of land to be acquired had been reached and a proposal submitted to the authorities for the final nod
• Disagreement between land owners and officials concerned over the compensation has been one of the major causes of delay, claim officials of the Haryana State Roads and Bridge Development Corporation