ROURKELA: The proposed road over bridge (ROB) at Kukuda level-crossing here on the busy Howrah-Mumbai main railway line continues to be a non-starter.The project at the busiest Kukuda level-crossing under South Eastern Railway (SER) is of immense importance as several trains of Howrah-Mumbai, Ranchi-Rourkela and Rourkela-Barsugan routes pass through it. After much delay, tender was floated for the `45.45 crore project last year, but it got stuck into court litigation after the second lowest bidder (L2) moved a petition citing anomaly in the tender process.
Birmitrapur BJP MLA Shankar Oram said in the recent Odisha Assembly session, he had inquired about the fate of the project and was informed about its’ sub-judice status.The entire population of Bisra block along with villagers of 10 gram panchayats of Nuagaon block use the route to reach Rourkela.
The road also serves the need of people of Rourkela to reach West Singhbhum district of adjacent Jharkhand and vice-versa. The route is the shortest connection between Rourkela and Barbil in Keonjhar, he said.
About 150 passenger and goods trains ply on Howrah-Mumbai rail route daily while above 30 other passenger and goods trains run on Rourkela-Ranchi and Rourkela-Barsuan rail routes. Most of the time the level-crossing remains closed to allow passage to trains and road commuters remain stuck for 30-45 minutes, he claimed and insisted for immediate implementation of the project by removing technical and legal hurdles.
SDO of Public Works Department M K Dalabehera informed that the court on July 29 disposed of the case cancelling the tender, but they are yet to receive the order.The project would be now included in the State Plan for funding.