Rohtak: Foot overbridge remains shut, girl loses life crossing rail track

Sunit Dhawan

Rohtak, March 17

Reetu, a law student from Jind, was killed after being run over by a train while returning from her college on Thursday afternoon. The governing body of Vaish Education Society, which runs 12 educational institutes in the city, had written to the Railway authorities to make the foot overbridge functional, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, thousands of students and residents have been risking their lives by crossing railway lines to reach educational institutes and colonies as the foot overbridge near the local railway station is lying closed for nearly three months.

“Ten of our institutes are located on our campus behind the Rohtak railway station. Nearly 15,000 students and 1,000 staff members come to the campus every day. A majority of them had been using the foot overbridge to reach the campus. They are facing grave inconvenience due to the closure of the bridge,” said Navin Jain, the president of the society, in a letter to the Railway authorities.

NP Goyal, a prominent social activist in the area, lamented that the bridge had been closed for repair and maintenance, but it was lying closed even though no construction work has been carried out on it for several days. A trader, Vijay Gupta, said several associations and organisations had urged the district administration as well as the Railway authorities to make the bridge functional for the convenience of the students and residents.

The residents here point out that a number of students, including those studying in primary classes, cross the railway lines as the bridge is lying closed, which can lead to mishaps. Contacted for comments, Railways’ Assistant Divisional Engineer Lalit said they had requested the authorities concerned to get the repair work completed at the earliest.