MoS Bittu threatens stir against delay in no objection certificate

“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.”

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Quoting these lines while taking a dig at the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s style of working, Union Minister of State for Railways and Food Processing Industries Ravneet Singh Bittu on Saturday threatened to launch an agitation in case the state government further delayed the no objection certificate (NOC) for the construction of the railway overbridge (RoB) on the Sahnewal-Doraha railway main line.

He lambasted the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the state for what he alleged “deliberate dilly-dallying” with important and crucial RoB at the Sahnewal-Doraha main line level crossing number 164A/B.

“If anything substantial is not done about this RoB in the coming days by the Punjab Government, we will be forced to launch a public agitation,” Bittu threatened during a visit to the site of the proposed railway overbridge.

While listening to the hardships faced by commuters on the road, the junior Railways Minister said daily 190 trains pass through this RoB and more than 3,000 vehicles cross this junction. “The CM, himself in a statement, had once said that Bittu is the MoS for Railways and he should be inaugurating some over or under bridges,” he reminded, while stating that when he took up with the Ministry authorities the matter of this RoB, which is to be built by the Railways while bearing the entire cost of Rs 70.56 crore, the state government, in collusion with few officials, was not granting the mandatory NOC.

“The officials of the PWD are not signing the drawing as it’s mandatory for them to sign as the approach of the RoB will generate and end in their jurisdiction,” Bittu said, while stating that the Railways had already given them in writing that the maintenance and upkeep of the service roads would be taken care of by the Railways once the construction started.

Sharing the background of the RoB project, the Railways MoS said this level crossing (LC) 164A at km 353/35-354/01 was located between the Doraha and Sahnewal stations on the Ambala-Ludhiana section in the Ambala division of the Northern Railway.

“In the Census of July 2022, the train vehicular unit was approximately 6 lakh following which the RoB was proposed,” he said, while sharing that a road over bridge was being built on this LC by the PWD, based on the approved General Administrative Drawing (GAD), dated July 18, 2014.

He further said that the PWD was executing this work through the concessionaire Atlanta Ropar Tollways Pvt Ltd. The Northern Railway Construction Organisation through Deputy Chief Engineer Chandigarh was overseeing the supervision of this work in the railway land.

“However, this work was terminated by the PWD on August 5, 2021. Thereafter, considering the high TVU of around 6 lakh, the work was sanctioned by the Railway Board on 100 per cent railway cost amounting to Rs 70.56 crore, vide letter dated February 29, 2024,” he reminded, stating that the Railways was executing the work on single entity basis.

Bittu said to avoid any contractual disputes at later stage, the Railways wrote letters to the PWD on September 18 and 23 last, for granting NOC while sharing the available data of the Doraha RoB, like GAD, autocad drawings, toposheet and geotech report on November 11 last.

“The PWD issued NOC to the Railways, but some of the terms and conditions of the NOC were not acceptable to the Northern Railway like taking over the responsibility of court case/arbitration from previous agency,” he disclosed, stating that a meeting was held in Chandigarh between the Railways officials and Ravi Bhagat, Secretary, PWD, along with other PWD officials on January 27 to resolve the issue regarding the conditional NOC issued by the PWD, wherein it was decided that the Punjab Government would relook into the legal aspect of this issue.