Rourkela: The fate of the much-awaited Kukuda Gate railway overbridge proposed on the Howrah-Mumbai rail route, one of the busiest railway links in the country, remains mired in uncertainty. Sources said the delay in land acquisition has pushed this overbridge project to cold storage. The tender process was completed sometime back and work also began on one side. However, the delay in land acquisition on the other side of the railway track is causing an inordinate delay in the completion of the project.
A sizeable population spread across an equally sizeable land mass depends on this road which passes over this vital railway track. People traveling to Barbil, Keonjhar, and even Koira take this route which links to Jharkhand.
Besides, all the panchayats under Bisra and Nuagaon blocks depend on this particular road. Apart from Howrah-Mumbai, this railway track also links Rourkela to Ranchi and Barsuan. Iron ore from Barsuan is transported to Rourkela Steel Plant on this route. At the peak hours during the day, the gate at the level crossing remains closed for more than 40 minutes causing immense inconvenience to the commuters.
Keeping the problems in view, this overbridge was planned and the land acquisition process started in 2019. Speaking to the media, Manoj Kumar Mahanand, executive engineer of PWD here said, “The total cost of the overbridge is Rs 32 crore. The approach road to the bridge is almost complete from the Bisra side. However, on the other side, no progress has been made due to issues in land acquisition.”
Notably, 1 0 families of Kapatmunda and Barabasa are going to lose 1.282 acre of land. It was decided that the affected families would get Rs 69.86 lakh as compensation. “Fund has been allocated for a combined survey to construct a railway underpass for the benefit of the locals,” informed Mahanand.
On the other hand, Demo Oram, who is leading the displaced persons’ movement said, “It is unfortunate that the administration did not consider the views of the gram sabha when the constitution stipulates this. The motion accepted in the gram sabha is not being implemented.” “We are not against any developmental projects including this one. Our ancestors have given hundreds of acres in the past. But, our just demands such as compensation and rehabilitation should be taken into consideration,” he said.