MC asks Railways to clear Jagraon Bridge site

Harshraj Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 16

As the Railways has not yet cleared the Jagraon Bridge site of debris and construction material, the MC has written to the Northern Railway official concerned to get the site cleared at the earliest so that construction of retaining walls can be started by the civic body without further delay.

Earlier, the Railways had written to the MC that the site had been cleared and the latter could start its work. When Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu and Municipal Commissioner Kanwalpreet Kaur Brar visited the site today, they found that the site had not been cleared by the Railways yet.

Now, Superintending Engineer HS Bhullar has written to the Deputy Chief Engineer (Construction) of Northern Railway, Jalandhar, to get the site cleared at the earliest. “The Mayor and the Municipal Commissioner visited the Jagraon Bridge site today to inspect construction work. It was found that the site has not been cleared by the Railways and the MCL is not in a position to take up constructing of retaining walls,” said Bhullar.

Assistant Engineer (Railways) Gurdeep Singh, who was present at the site, said it would take about seven days to clear the site.

Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu said: “Once the site is cleared by the Railways, the MC will start construction of retaining walls on the approaches to the Jagraon Bridge. It will take around three months to complete this work which is to be carried out by the MC,” said Sandhu.

It is required to mention that the Jagraon Bridge reconstruction project has already missed multiple deadlines. In September 2019, MP Ravneet Singh Bittu had stated that he had made it clear to the railway officials that this Rs 24-crore project should be completed by November 30, 2019. However, the Railways is yet to complete work under its jurisdiction. The approaches to the bridge are to be constructed by the MC.

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