Bant: Kenduapada villagers, who precariously cross a railway level-crossing on Bant-Barikpur road every day, demanded construction of a railway over bridge (ROB).
Hundreds of vehicles that use the road stretch intersecting the tracks at Kenduapada get stranded frequently due to increased frequency of trains and goods trains. Commuters from Bant, Bhandaripokhari blocks and those of Hatadihi block depend on the road. As the road links National Highway No. 16 at Barikpur, the number of vehicles using the road has been increasing. Hundreds of school and college students commute on this route.
There is a train at every 10 minutes on this line, resulting in the level-crossing gate remaining closed most often.
Because of the gate being down most of the time, it not only causes problems for students and office-goers but also detains ambulances carrying patients to Bhadrak district headquarters hospital or to hospitals in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.
Sometimes, the gate is lifted to clear rush of road users when the approaching train is delayed. The scene of that time is anything but dangerous. People from both ends are seen hurrying to cross the gate as soon as possible. The death is always lurking there in the form of a train accident.
“We have been demanding an ROB, but there is no result,” alleged some villagers. “A public agitation may be launched if the authorities do not construct an ROB at Kenduapada,” warned Kenduapada sarpanch Mitali Jena, samiti member Bijay Kumar Khatua and a few others. They have also demanded express train stoppage at Kenduapada station and sought the government’s intervention in this regard.
PNN