RBDCK to follow suit once
land acquisition is over
The work on an overbridge
proposed near Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) at Ponekkara is
expected to gain pace with the Southern Railway inviting tenders for
constructing the bridge’s span over railway lines.
The bridge will be a boon
to commuters and thousands of patients who visit AIMS daily. Patients and
others visiting the hospital now travel around 3 km extra through narrow roads
to reach the hospital. The demand for the bridge grew louder as many people
crossing railway tracks to avoid the circuitous route have been knocked down by
trains.
With Lok Sabha polls at
the footstep, people of the area have come out in the open demanding speeding
up of bridge’s construction.
The railway portion of the
bridge would be around 55 metres long — among the longest in the State. It is
estimated to cost Rs. 5 crore. “There will be no pillars supporting the
bridge’s rail portion, which would pass over seven railway tracks,” said Dani
Thomas, the Chief Administrative Officer (Construction) of Southern Railway.
Railway had given
administrative sanction for the bridge in 2011 and approved the revised design
about a year ago. A regular bridge would come up in place of what was conceived
as a small bridge. The total project cost is expected to be around Rs. 30
crore, which rose from Rs. 12 crore in 2011.
Land acquisition for the
project is minimal since vacant land is available on one side. Roads and
Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK) is expected to build the
bridge’s side spans.
A senior RBDCK official
said the land acquisition process and the agency’s work on side spans would be
hastened since the railway has invited tenders for the rail portion (which is
expected to be built by year-end). “The State government will bear the full
project cost since the bridge is not over a level-crossing (in which case the
railway would have shared the cost).”
Resume
road link
The two-lane bridge will
link what was once the Edapally-Paravur highway, which got severed after
railway tracks were laid. It would provide a shortcut to Paravur from
Palarivattom and motorists need not touch the crowded Edappally Junction, said
K.A. Francis, the treasurer of Ernakulam District Residents’ Associations’ Apex
Council (EDRAAC) and former general secretary of Mahatma Gandhi Residents
Association, Edappally, which spearheaded the campaign for the bridge.
“Minister for Public Works
V. K. Ibrahim Kunju has promised to allot funds for speeding up the project,”
Mr Francis said.
People of the area and
commuters have been demanding removal of encroachers from the road that leads
to AIMS, since they often hold up ambulances and vehicles transporting patients
in critical condition to the hospital.
No comments:
Post a Comment