Two years gone,Railways yet to find contractors for Jetalpur rail over bridge

The work was initiated almost two years ago. VMC officials said,who are monitoring the bridge projects under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission project,it is expected to take another six months to complete.

It was in July when senior VMC officials met the top Western Railway officials in Mumbai and apprised them about the situation. The VMC officials were assured that the work would be initiated on priority basis.

However,even after three months,Jetalpur project is still same as before. Sources said that even after considering the complications involved in the project the delay is quite long and if there is a political willingness at the Centre,it would have been executed on priority basis.

“The fact that VMC Opposition leader Chirag Zaveri wrote to state BJP over delay in ROB projects proves that Congress is interested in politicising the issue and least concerned about the inconvenience to the people. Zaveri should have written to the Railways Ministry to expedite the work,” said an official requesting anonymity.

VMC Commissioner M K Das,however,said that ROB projects generally take a long time. “Of the five ROB projects,only Jetalpur ROB has turned out to be a difficult task whereas rest of the projects didn’t have any technical problems. The rail traffic at Jetalpur is heavy and it also needs specialised contractors. Hopefully,the railway authorities would get the contractor soon and work will than be started.”

According to railway officials,the works at Vadsar and Jetalpur are moving at snail’s pace,as the WR authorities were not finding the contractors who were ready to take up the project. The complications including,heavy train traffic,less time for construction work and high voltage electricity lines resulting into high risk keep the contractor away from these projects.