ROURKELA: Even as the work for the Road Over Bridge (ROB) over Kukudagate level-crossing here on the Howrah-Mumbai mainline and National Highway (NH) 320D has started recently from the Bisra side, there has been no substantial progress on Rourkela side for want of land clearance. The work from the Bisra end began on March 16 amid police deployment while the land acquisition process on the Rourkela end is now in-progress after inordinate delay and protests by tribals.
Works Department SDO Ashutosh Jena said the target for completion of the ROB is December 2023. “From the Bisra side, foundation casting has been done and they are readying for sub-structure and superstructure erection. On Rourkela's side, private land acquisition is targeted to be completed by December 2022 following which project pace would gain further momentum,” Jena informed.
To pave way for the project, Rourkela police on March 28 had arrested 22 tribal protesters owing allegiance to the Anchalik Suraksha Committee (ASC) after they tried to stop work citing Rehabilitation & Resettlement (R&R) disputes of the land losers with the South Eastern Railway (SER). The protesters were released in three phases between April 20 and May 21 with bail conditions of not physically obstructing work. The protesters are preparing to redraw the intervention of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribe (NCST), but the Sundargarh district administration has reportedly shown no urgency to either expedite land acquisition or meaningfully redress grievances of the protesters.
The district has an abysmally low track record of dragging high-value infrastructure projects like the Bimlagarh-Talcher new rail line or the Jharsuguda-Rourkela third line project for years together due to land hurdles.
Rourkela Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) President Subrata Patnaik said seven ROBs including the Kukudagate ROB in the district were sanctioned in 2010 and it is unfortunate that this ROB of significant importance to clear road and rail congestion is getting implemented now. “Private land acquisition process should have been completed long before. If the Rourkela-Jareikela road not have been declared NH 320D six months ago, the administration would not have initiated the project work at all,” he alleged.
The open foundation bridge with a length of 923 meters, the width of 10 meters and 5.5 meters for each service road on both sides is coming up at a cost of about ` 34 crores with the SER floating second tender to construct the middle part for ` 14 crores.