Two ROBs in Rourkela set to Take off.

The State Government and the South Eastern Railway (SER) have finally taken the initiatives to set up two Road Over Bridges (ROBs) on the busy Howrah-Mumbai route running through Rourkela city. Three more ROB proposals for the city on the same railway route are in the planning stage after remaining on the back burner for several years. However, there is no taker for the pending ROB proposal in the adjacent Rajgangpur town.

SER General Manager Radhe Shyam during a visit to Rourkela on March 13 had said tenders would be floated for the ROB projects at ITI and STI level-crossing in the city in May or June. He, however, parried questions about rest five ROB proposals in the district.

Sources said the ROBs would be set up on 50:50 cost sharing basis between State Government and SER. Executive Engineer of Public Works Department (PWD) Deepak Tripathy said tender was floated for the ROB project at ITI recently, but it was cancelled as only one bidder evinced interest. He said tender would be floated for it again and a fresh tender would be released for the project at STI once the Government approves the proposal.

He informed that combined General Arrangement Drawings (GADs) of the PWD and SER for ROBs at IDC and Kalunga level-crossings of the city have been sent to SER for final approval. He said the GAD for the ROB proposal at Kukuda level-crossing of the city is under preparation. Sources said the then divisional railway manager of SER's Chakradharpur Division Anchal Khare on December 27, 2010 had written to the Secretary, Works Department, Odisha Government stating that SER was willing to set up six ROBs in Sundargarh district in view of heavy Train Vehicle Unit (TVU) volume.

Rourkela Development Steering Committee and Rourkela Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Subrata Patnaik said it is unfortunate that railway projects are getting inordinately delayed due to lack of interest on the part of the State Government. He said the Government and SER should expedite all pending proposals in view of public inconvenience. On an average, 130 passenger and goods trains ply on the Howrah-Mumbai route daily.


THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS