BENGALURU: It’s been almost a year since the Railway Board sanctioned the Road Over Bridge (ROB) at the level crossing near Karmelaram Railway Station, following a demand by residents for many years. However, there has been no progress, as thousands struggle daily to commute from Gunjur, Panathur and Whitefield via Karmelaram Main Road towards Sarjapur Road and Outer Ring Road, and in the reverse direction.
The Rs 48.16-crore ROB (at LC gate no. 132) for which construction cost is to be borne equally between the Railways and BBMP, is stuck between the two agencies. Each department will bear Rs 15.16 crore, while the balance sum that would be handed over as compensation for land acquisition will be completely borne by the BBMP, a Palike official said.
A top railway official told TNIE that BBMP has not completed land acquisition, which was delaying the project. BBMP Executive Engineer Jaishankar Reddy refused to buy this argument. “BBMP needs to acquire 6,000 sqm for constructing ramps for the ROB. It will be ready within six months. With the land presently available with Railways, it could have gone ahead with constructing the ROB. Our survey is com plete and we will issue a notification. If Railways begins construction even now, it will be a year before the land being acquired is needed,” he said.
Asked about reasons for the delay in acquiring land, he charged the Railways of changing the initial alignment thrice, forcing BBMP to go in for repeat surveys. Another senior railway official said that tenders for the ROB will be called shortly by South Western Railway. “The Railway Board wanted us to begin work only after land was fully acquired,” he claimed.
MP PC Mohan, who gave Rs 16 lakh from his MPLAD funds for the ROB in November 2018, said, “There seems to be some land acquisition issue. I will hold a review meet between the BBMP and Railways, and sort it out.”
Residents speak
Deepankar Patnaik of ‘Carmelaram Unites’ has been carrying on a relentless campaign on Twitter for the ROB, and has put out 241 reminder tweets tagging top officials, ministers and even PM Modi. Arpit Nayak, an IT professional in Chikka Bellandur, said he needs to wait for 25 to 45 minutes at the gate to go across to a hospital or medical store. Amit Kumar, a Gunjur resident, said he and many others are completely dependent on the ‘TrainSpotters’ group on Telegram to step outside his house.