Service lane connecting PAP Chowk, ROB flyover to be closed

Ajay Joshi

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 26

Controversies surrounding the construction of PAP flyover doesn’t seem to be ending. Residents will now have to travel around two kilometres extra to reach the ROB flyover that leads to the Chugitti flyover.

After the three accidents reported on the day of its opening, engineers and officials have now decided to close the service lane that directly connects PAP Chowk and the ROB flyover. A decision has been taken to remove engineering defects on the merge point of the service lane and the PAP flyover.

Earlier, after the accidents, it was found that vehicles coming through the flyover and the service lane towards Amritsar and Pathankot were colliding with each other at the merger point.

Site engineer Hitesh Dhawan said: “Only administration can make any statement on whether the service lane should be kept opened for the traffic flow or not. However, it has been proposed that commuters heading towards the PAP-ROB flyover from PAP Chowk will have to use the PAP flyover after taking a U-turn from Bajra Dwar near Ramamandi.”

He said the service lane would be closed temporarily till the construction of a 25-m ramp before the merging point. Notably, signboards had already been placed on roads for diverted routes.

However, Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said technical inadequacies would be resolved only by engineering teams so that the commuters would not face any problem later.

The National Highways Authority of India had also earlier suggested that the service road should be blocked for traffic, but the officials kept it open and instead, proposed to widen the service road by constructing a ramp.

Meanwhile, auto-rickshaw drivers and bus drivers ferrying passengers to Amritsar and Pathankot said they now had to spend extra bucks on fuel as a few more kilometres had been added on the route.

Cong leader files RTI

Various objections related to the construction of the PAP flyover were also raised. Sanjay Sehgal, a Congress leader, has filed an RTI application to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to verify all discrepancies concerning the flyover. In his application, he has asked several questions regarding the names and designation of the officials concerned under whose supervision the flyover was constructed. Doubting the raw material used in the construction of the flyover, he has also asked to provide information on qualification and degree of the officials who planned, designed and approved the flyover. Maintenance of the flyover was another issue that was raised.