Union Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu on Wednesday laid stone for two railway overbridges (ROBa) to be constructed at Rs 112 crore here.
The ROBs will be constructed in Guru Nanakpura and Garha areas.
According to the proposal, the Guru Nanakpura crossing, which is a busy railway intersection for the Amritsar-Jalandhar-Delhi link, will get the ROB at Rs 49 crore. The 346.8-metre-long ROB will be constructed over 20 pillars.
It will connect Chugitti on the Jalandhar-Amritsar highway with Ladowali Road. The ramp towards Ladowali Road will be 235 metres long while the one towards Chugitti will be shorter.
The estimated deadline for the project is 18 months. Before the start of the ROB project, the local administration, through the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), will have to make alterations in the PAP flyover by having an additional ramp to save Jalandhar-based commuters from the inconvenience of traveling up to Rama Mandi.
As many as 110 trains pass through the crossing every day. At times, two or three trains pass in quick succession, forcing commuters have to halt there for 20-30 minutes.
The other option for them is to take a longer detour via PAP Chowk-Rama Mandi-PAP flyover.
The cost of the second ROB over the Garha Road crossing is estimated at Rs 63 crore.
This crossing remains closed up to eight times a day. This ROB will be completed in a year and a half. This ROB will benefit residents of Defence Colony, Chhoti Baradari, Hardyal Nagar and Golden Avenue.
Reacting to the development, District Congress Committee chief and former MLA Rajinder Beri said the Guru Nanakpura ROB was actually approved during the previous Congress government in the state.
“After that, the COVID-19 pandemic created major hurdles. Later, in 2022, the government in Punjab changed. Following that, no one pursued this project. Now, with the Assembly elections approaching, the inauguration has been timed to claim credit,” he said.
On a row over the forensic report concerning a video allegedly linked to CM Bhagwant Mann, Bittu said “there was no doubt that a fake report was prepared by the Gurugram lab at the behest of the CM".
Bittu alleged that it was condemnable as a CM was “getting fake work done by the police", which is supposed to protect people.
Kalia collapses in heat
Senior BJP leader Manoranjan Kali collapsed due hot and humid weather at Bittu’s event in Guru Nanakpura event. Bittu cut short his engagements in view of Kalia’s health and later visited him in hospital.
Apart from Kalia, BJP leaders KD Bhandari, Rakesh Rathour, Sheetal Angural, Sarabjit Makkar, Avinash Chander, Ashok Sareen Hikki, Karamjit Kaur, Jeevan Gupta, Raman Pabbi, Jagbir Brar, Subhash Sood, Shelly Khanna, among others were present.
