On Saturday, Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu criticized the Punjab government for allegedly 'intentionally delaying' the construction of a vital railway over-bridge at the Doraha-Sahnewal main line level crossing.
The Union minister stated that if no significant action is taken in the near future, he will initiate a public protest. Bittu inspected the location of the planned over-bridge and heard about the difficulties experienced by the commuters.
“If the kingdom's king in slumber stays, His people wander in troubled days. Storms of sorrow, trials untold, Darkness reigns where light once shone bold”. Quoting these lines about the present the chief Minister of Punjab S. Bhagwant Mann style of working, S. Ravneet Singh Union Minister of state for Railways and Food processing Industries lambasted on the Punjab Government for deliberately Dil delaying with important and crucial Railway overbridge at the Doraha Sahnewal main line level crossing number 164A/B.
He said, "If anything substantial is not done about this ROB in the coming days by the Punjab Govt we will be forced to launch Public agitation."
Ravneet Singh today visited the site of the proposed railway overbridge and listened to the hardships faced by the commuters on the road. Daily 190 trains pass this ROB and more than 3000 vehicles cross this ROB, look at the state of sufferers.
In a statement, the chief minister mentioned that Ravneet Singh is the state minister for railways and should be inaugurating some over or under bridges. However, when addressing the issue of this railway overbridge, which is to be fully funded by the railways at a cost of 70.56 Crores, the Punjab Government, in collaboration with a few officials, is still not granting the No Objection Certificate.
The officials of the PWD Punjab are not signing the Drawing as its mandatory for them to sign as the approach of the ROB will generate and end in their jurisdiction. The railways have already given them in writing that the maintenance and upkeep of service roads will be taken care by the railways once the construction is started.
Giving the background of the above mentioned Railway Overbridge, S. Ravneet Singh said that this Level Crossing (LC) No. 164A at Km 353/35-354/01 is located between Doraha (DOA) and Sahnewal (SNL) stations on the Ambala (UMB)-Ludhiana (LDH) section in Ambala (UMB) Division of Northern Railway.
In the census of July 2022, the train vehicular unit was approx 6 lacs so the ROB was proposed. A Road Over Bridge (ROB) was being built on this LC by PWD, Punjab, based on approved GAD (General Administrative Drawing) dated 18.07.2014. PWD was executing this work through the concessionaire Atlanta Ropar Tollways Pvt. Ltd. Northern Railway Construction organization through Dy. CE/C/CDG office was overseeing the supervision of this work in Railway Land. However, this work was terminated by PWD on 05.08.2021.
Thereafter, considering the high TVU of around 6 lakhs, the work was sanctioned by Railway Board on 100 percent Railway cost amounting to Rs. 70.56 Crore vide letter dated 29.02.2024. Railway is executing the work on single entity.
To avoid any contractual disputes at later stage, Railways wrote letters to PWD dated 18.09.2024 & 23.09.2024, for granting NOC and sharing available data of Doraha ROB, like GAD, Autocad Drawings, Toposheet, geotech report etc. On 11.11.2024, PWD Punjab issued NOC letter to Railways, some of the terms and conditions of the NOC were not acceptable to Northern Railway like taking over the responsibility of court case/arbitration from previous agency etc.
A meeting was held in the conference hall of Punjab Secretariate in Chandigarh between CAO/C/RSP, along with Railway Representatives and Sh. Ravi Bhagat, Secretary, PWD along with PWD officials on 27.01.2025 to resolve the issue regarding the conditional NOC issued by PWD, Punjab, wherein it was decided that the Punjab Govt will re-look into the legal aspect of this issue.
A letter has been written to CE/PWD on 29.01.2025 deliberating on the discussions held in the 27.01.2025 meeting and it was again re-iterated to grant a clear cut NOC for execution of the work.