Railway overbridge almost complete

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 19

After jumping several deadlines, the railway overbridge near Bhandari Bridge has been almost completed, finally. The government is yet to open it for the traffic and the metro bus as construction material is still lying there. The bridge has been constructed under the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) at the cost of Rs 15 crore.

Due to the delay in the constriction of the bridge, the firm having the contract of the BRTS metro bus service hasn’t been able to start the metro bus service from the railway station to the bus stand. The company hasn’t received any intimation from the government regarding the initiation of the buses.

Officials said corridors and lifts are being constructed on the elevated road near the Civil Hospital and the bus stand. After completion, the bus would start ferrying passengers from the Golden Gate (Jalandhar bypass) to India Gate (Attari road).

Meanwhile, the firm started plying the bus from Verka to India Gate directly. Officials claimed that after starting the bus from Verka to India Gate, the number of passengers has increased.

Harbans Singh, in-charge, metro bus, said, “The government will start operating buses on all planned routes within two months. We haven’t got any official intimation from the government but track is almost ready. The construction work of corridors and installation of lifts at the bus stand and the Civil Hospital is about to complete. Hopefully, the project will complete soon”.

With a total length of 30.73 km, the BRTS project aims to provide mass transport to the residents of the border city. Besides, it looks at reducing the traffic mess and bottlenecks.

Sukhbir Singh Badal, former Deputy Chief Minister, had inaugurated the half completed BRTS project on December 16, 2016. Due to incomplete routes, the buses in the BRTS lanes got a lukewarm response from passengers.