9 years on, railway underpass remains a distant reality on Abohar- Sriganganagar Road

Raj Sadosh

Abohar, April 24

The project of underpass at B50 railway crossing on Abohar- Sriganganagar Road has not been taken up in the past nine years even after multiple inspections of the site by officials and engineers.

On June 4, 2015, railway engineers asked Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board officials to shift the main sewerage line at the earliest to facilitate the construction of an underpass on Abohar-Sriganganagar Road. Also, a road was to be constructed near the goods yard to divert heavy vehicle traffic to the city bypass. A sum of Rs 5.58 crore was also allocated for the underpass construction at the rail crossing where at least 26 trains pass daily.

Cut to 2024, the underpass remains on paper. People blame former Shiromani Akali Dal MPs from Ferozepur for not taking up the matter with the Centre.

Shri Sanatan Dharam Sabha president Ram Prakash Mittal said that the railway crossing gets repeatedly closed each day for passenger trains and when any goods train has to pass, it remains closed for a longer time.

Mittal said that on Tuesday, when he was going from his residence to the shop, he witnessed that the crossing was found closed at 2 pm, which was opened at 2.45 pm. By then, long queues of vehicles had formed on both sides. While the railway station is being upgraded by the Railways at a cost of Rs 24 crore, underpass construction would have eased troubles faced by the locals.

Another local NGO chief said that often, an ambulance or a fire brigade vehicle can be seen stuck at the crossing, even though it is an emergency service.

Nearly half of the city’s population lives across the crossing. Hundreds of vehicles coming from villages to the town have to wait at the crossing but the railway authorities were unwilling to come out of deep slumber, he said.

Moreover, now when farmers fear fires in their fields due to heat, fire brigades will have to ply for relief and the busy crossing would pose plenty of problems in it.

Over 26 trains pass daily

On June 4, 2015, railway engineers asked Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board officials to shift the main sewerage line at the earliest to facilitate the construction of an underpass on Abohar-Sriganganagar Road. Also, a road was to be constructed near the goods yard to divert heavy vehicle traffic to the city bypass. A sum of Rs 5.58 crore was also allocated for the underpass construction at the rail crossing where at least 26 trains pass daily. Cut to 2024, the underpass remains on paper.

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