Overbridge jumps deadline

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 25

Despite repeated announcements, the opening of the railway overbridge of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), parallel to the Bhandari railway overbridge, has jumped another deadline as it is far from being complete.

The partially completed Rs 600 crore ambitious BRTS project still hangs fire. Rajya Sabha MP Shwait Malik, who is also a member of the railway board, had announced in January that the overbridge on the BRTS would be operational by March. He said since the state government had not approved any project to lay any road or even repair the existing ones, no bitumen plant became operational this summer. He said the entire stretch of 52-metre long concrete and steel bridge for the state government at a cost of nearly Rs 15 crore was ready and required bitumen to complete. It shows that the Capt Amarinder Singh government has failed to deliver any of its development promises, he added.

The Railways is constructing the 52-metre long concrete and steel bridge for the state government’s ambitious BRTS project. As many as three slabs each weighing 170 tonne were laid underneath bridge’s concrete slab. In order to lift and place extremely heavy girders, cranes from Delhi and the NCR region were arranged.

Operationalisation of the bridge would see completion of 30.73 km track for the BRTS project, which is aimed at resolving the problem of traffic in the city.