Road plan changes delay Padil-Bajal road underbridge.

The Southern Railway is hopeful of completing the road underbridge (RUB) on the busy Padil-Bajal Road by the end of this month or the first week of May. However, it is concerned about commissioning the RUB as the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) has sought to deviate from the original plan for the approach roads so as to avoid acquisition of private properties.

D.V. Sadananda Gowda as the Minister for Railways had laid the foundation stone on August 16, 2014, promising that the work would be completed by February 2015. Two months behind schedule, work on the RUB has picked up speed with the contractor pushing concrete boxes beneath the railway lines. At the same time, the Railways is also working on approach roads on its land.

Southern Railway's Palakkad Divisional Railway Manager Anand Prakash told The Hindu that the work was likely to be completed by May first week. However, the MCC was yet to submit the approved designs for the approach roads, he said. While the approach roads as originally envisaged by the Railways required acquisition of small portions of private property, the MCC wanted the roads on railway property itself.

The suggested deviation, Mr. Prakash said, makes the approach roads steep and could result in perennial problems to road users. Still, the Railways was inclined to consider the proposal, he said. The corporation also was yet to construct parts of approach roads to connect the main road, he said.

While the contractor was pushing concrete elements from Padil-side, the MCC could work on approach roads from Bajal-side to speed up the work, which was not happening at present, Mr. Prakash regretted.

However, a senior engineer with the MCC said that the corporation had already forwarded the approved drawings for the revised approach road plan to the Railways. He said the modified design would not pose any difficulty to road users.

The RUB is a decade-old demand of the residents of Faisalnagar, Veernagar, Vijaynagar, Bajal and Jalligudde. Since the Mangalore Junction Railway Station is on the busy Mumbai line, the gates of the level crossing close very frequently, affecting movement of vehicles.


THE HINDU