Year on, RuB project yet to see light of day

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, January 23

The construction of a dual carriage railway underbridge at Urban Estate Phase-I has been hanging fire for the past one year. The residents said despite repeated requests and complaints regarding the inconvenience they were facing owing to delay in construction work, nothing is being done to address the issue.

Owing to continuous leakage of sewage, the entire site had turned into a deep pit. On many occasions, stray animals, including cattle and dogs, have fallen into the pit. Besides, during night, even commuters face a lot of inconvenience and several mishaps take place due to it. — Kavita Sabharwal, A resident

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The MC has made payments to the PSPCL and sewerage board to shift the electric pole and lay sewer pipes, respectively. The work will resume by this week, and officials concerned have been directed to finish it at the earliest. — Jagdish Raja, Mayor

They said a Rs 39 lakh budget was approved last month by Municipal Corporation for laying new sewers at the site, and they were told that work would start soon, however, nothing such has happened. “Excavation work on the site was started in February 2022, and during excavation, sewer were damaged due to which the site has turned into a pool of dirty water, making our lives miserable,” said Banwari Lal Shastri, a priest in the temple that is in front of the site.

He said whenever he calls the MC officials to know when the work will finally start, they keep making one or another excuse and promise to get the work started by next week, but that week has yet not arrived.

“Just three or four days before, the PSPCL has shifted some electric poles, and the officials present there told the residents that work on the site will start from Friday, but again nothing happened,” Shastri said, adding that there is no clarity over when the work will start and what is the deadline to complete it. He said railways officials had visited the site thrice in past few months, and they said once the sewerage work is completed, they would start the work to construct the underbridge immediately.

The residents said it was only due to the negligence of MC the work has been delayed. They said if it was started on time, the project might be close to completion as over one year has passed already.

“Owing to continuous leakage of sewer, the entire site had turned into a deep pit. On many occasions, stray animals, including cattle and dogs, have fallen into the pit. Besides, during night, even commuters face a lot of inconvenience and several mishaps take place due to it,” said Kavita Sabharwal, another resident.

She said the entire site lies in pathetic condition. Residents had to think twice before stepping out of their homes, the place had become a living hell.

Meanwhile, Mayor Jagdish Raja said, the MC had made payments to the PSPCL and sewerage board to shift the electric pole and lay sewer pipes, respectively. He said the work would resume by this week, and officials concerned have been directed to finish it at the earliest.