Built at Rs 16 crore, subways under Rohtak-Panipat rail track remain submerged, unutilised

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 7

Poor planning and irregularities in execution of works to construct limited height subways by the Railways to replace unmanned level crossings on the Rohtak-Panipat track resulted in about a dozen such subways submerging under water and remaining unutilised, thereby wasting an expenditure of over Rs 16 crore.

Audit scrutiny of the works revealed high ground water levels at the selected construction sites, non-availability of site survey and soil testing reports, difficulty in de-watering, change of construction sites, delays and Railway authorities ignoring concerns and inputs provided by the locals.

Limited height subways (LHSs) are constructed to facilitate the safe movement of people and light vehicles at unmanned level crossings and prevent road accidents, apart from ensuring better traffic movement.

Level crossings, both manned and unmanned, facilitate smooth running of traffic, but they also pose a major challenge in the operation of safe running of trains. The maximum fatalities in the railways occur due to accidents at unmanned level crossings.

The Indian Railways Vision 2020 document states that about 70 per cent of the fatalities in railway mishaps take place at unmanned level crossings. Level crossings remain a vulnerable point for accidents and road over bridges, road under bridges and subways are constructed to eliminate them.

“The main objective of construction of LHSs in lieu of unmanned level crossings was to prevent loss of human lives and vehicles due to accidents apart from providing smooth traffic movement. However, these LHSs, being submerged in water, could not be used by the local public and road users, Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) latest report tabled in Parliament’s ongoing session observed.

“Thus, the objective of construction of LHSs could not be achieved and whole expenditure of Rs 16.19 crore incurred on construction of these LHSs was unproductive,” the CAG commented.

The matter was taken up by CAG with the Ministry of Railways, but no response was received.

Joint inspections of the LHSs were carried out by CAG ad Railway officials. “It was evident that in all the cases (except three sites) where location or sites of LHSs were changed, no formal approval of the competent authority was obtained. No corrigendum to contract for change in location of the works was issued,” the CAG report said.

The Assistant Divisional Engineer (Rohtak) stated that locations were changed verbally by the competent authority due to high water table and agitation by villagers, but even after change of sites, the LHSs remained submerged in water. The CAG observed that no reports relating to site survey or soil test were available in the records of the Railway Administration. “This indicates lack of due diligence in creation of crucial public facilities,” the CAG commented.

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