Protest over delay in completion of flyover

Nangal, September 3

Protesting delay in completion of a flyover, Nangal Sangharsh Committee members yesterday observed a one-day hunger strike here. The shopkeepers of the town had also observed a bandh over the issue on July 26.

The protesters claimed that they had been facing traffic jams daily since the work on the Rs 137-crore project, including a railway overbridge near the Nangal dam and a high-level bridge on the Sutlej, started in August 2018.

In a bid to ease traffic congestion, the NHAI had approved the project in December 2017.

The work on the project was scheduled to be completed in August 2020. However, the work got affected after the lockdown was imposed due to the pandemic and the new deadline was fixed as April 30, 2021. The work on the project was halted in the beginning of 2021 when local shopkeepers demanded removal of a low height subway under the railway overbridge (ROB) form the project as it could have blocked the access to several shops and a petrol station.

Sangharsh committee members said besides speeding up the construction work of the ROB, alternative routes must be provided to ease the traffic congestion in the town.

Executive Engineer Davinder Bajaj said 80 per cent work on the project had already been completed. He said the NHAI as well as the Railways had agreed not to construct any low height subway under the upcoming ROB. Following the approval of the new design of the ROB, the Railways have been making arrangements accordingly. The work on the ROB would be resumed soon and it would be completed by March 31, 2023, he said.