railway over bridge

Baiyyappanahalli railway cross

Bengaluru

Bangalore

By Y Maheswara ReddyBaiyyappanahalliclears land acquisition hurdle, finallyAfter a gap of seven years, construction work on the railway over bridge atis set to commence soon. A ground breaking ceremony was held on Thursday in the presence ofCentral MP PC Mohan, MLA S Raghu and officials from South Western Railways.A similar ceremony was held in 2011 too but the work was never completed due to delay in acquiring around 10,000 sq m of defence land. The approach road towards Maruthi Seva Nagar and the bridge above the railway track was completed but the approach road towards Old Madras Road remained pending all these years.“I am very happy to attend the ceremony. I had to struggle a lot to get a nod from the defence ministry for handing over the required land for the construction of the approach road to the ROB,” said Mohan.The MP said the construction work would be completed in 12 months.“The pending work, estimated to be at Rs 15 crore, will be completed in 12 months. It will be a great relief for the thousands of commuters who use this road to reach their destinations,” he said.Traffic police struggle a lot to regulate traffic at the railway cross, one of the busiest railway crosses in the city, since the railway gate is closed once every 20 minutes.“I thank the railway authorities, defence authorities, our MP P C Mohan, MLA S Raghu and local corporator for taking measures to commence the construction work. If completed, the ROB will be a boon for thousands of commuters,” said NS Ravi, president, Bharatinagar Residents’ Forum.Appreciating the authorities for taking an initiative to recommence the construction work, Dr Prakash Mandoth, president ofMetro and Suburban Rail Passengers’ Association said the ROB at Baiyyappanahalli railway cross is necessary to mitigate traffic-related problems.“I thank MP P C Mohan for ensuring clearance from the authorities concerned for acquiring the defence land for this project. It will be a great relief for the commuters,” says Dr Prakash Mandoth.According to Sanjeev Dyamannavar, a member of Praja, the ROB would cater to the needs of thousands of railway passengers when the third coaching terminal at Baiyyappanahalli commences operations in September of October. “The ROB is the need of the hour. It will be good if the authorities concerned take measures to complete the pending work as early as possible,” he added.