Red tapism hits multi-level bridge.

With the construction of the multi-level bridge at the Aristo Junction in the city running into inordinate delay due to land transfer and acquisition issues, civic activists have emphasised the need for the Railways to expedite transfer of the required land for the project expeditiously.

The project has already suffered a time overrun due to issues in land transfer from the Central government agencies, the Railways in particular. The first stage of the new flyover was scheduled to be completed by February 2017 and the second stage by 2019. But this could be delayed significantly now as the Railways is yet to transfer the land sought by the State Highways for the first stage of the project. The second stage of the project is likely to suffer a corresponding delay as only after the completion of the first stage that the Highways Department would call for tenders for the second stage of the project.

Sources in the Highways Department said there has been good progress in the talks held with the Railways over the past few months and the Divisional Railway authorities are now keen to transfer the land. The Railway authorities have now asked for the Highways Department to get the market value of the land from the Revenue Department and the assessment is currently said to be under progress. Once the market value is provided, the transfer of the land would have to be approved by the Railway Board, the sources said.

The project, taken up by the Railways and the Highways Department, is being executed in two stages and envisages widening of the narrow road over bridge across the railway lines near the Tiruchi Junction on the Madurai Road intersection. In the first stage, a new three-lane road overbridge with five arms will be built at a cost of ₹44.28 crore adjacent to the existing bridge. In the next stage, the old bridge will be dismantled and a new bridge with two arms built in its place.

The Highways Department had been seeking in principle approval and enter upon permission from the Railway authorities here to execute works on a portion of its land. The department had sought the transfer of 872 square metres for the first stage of the project from the Railways and negotiations have been under way for the past couple of years.

“It is regrettable that transfer of a piece of land from one government agency to another is taking such a long time. The project is running into inordinate delay due to this. The Railways should take steps for expeditious transfer of the land to the Highways Department at the earliest in the interest of the people,”said M. Sekaran, president, Federation of Consumer and Service Organisations.

H. Ghouse Baig, another consumer activist, observed that the people were the ultimate sufferers due to the delay in the completion of the project. “The vital project is entangled in talks over transfer of the Railway land. The Railway officials should help in completing the project at the earliest by transferring the land quickly,” Mr. Baig said.

He observed that the delay in arriving at a quick decision on providing the Railway land to the National Highways Authority of India during the four-laning of the Tiruchi-Chennai By-pass Road had left the Golden Rock residents without a subway at the G-corner junction in the city. “The NHAI has completed the project without a subway at G- corner, though the subway was shown in the original plan. The Railways should now take steps to build a subway at the vital junction,” he added.

THE HINDU