Pic: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (ANK)
Mangaluru Nov 15: The long awaited railway underpass at Padil costing Rs 16.50 crore was inaugurated by Member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel here on Wednesday, November 15.
Addressing the gathering Nalin Kumar Kateel said, "This road was a long pending project which was delayed due to technical problems. There are a lot of obstacles in the coastal region including monsoon which delays the completion of development works by 5-6 months. The construction of the existing railway undepass will begin from the next week and will be completed within 3-4 months,”
“The NDA government has released funds for development works in the district. The 65 km stretch from BC Road to Addole will be concretized. Minister Nitin Gadkari has also ordered the completion of road work from Pumpwell to Thokkottu by March 2018. Rs 10 crore has been sanctioned for the maintenance of road from BC Road to Suratkal, and Rs 28 crore for the maintenance of service road from BC Road to Surathkal," he added.
“Rs 500 crore has been sanctioned for a four-lane road from BC Road to Suratkal under Sagaramala fund. Survey and DPR has been completed for BC Road-Mulky, Melkar-Konaje, Kalladka-Charvathur and Subramanya-Gundya road and work will be commenced once land acquisition is completed,” he said
The railway underpass was supposed to be inaugurated in March 2017 but was delayed as Pallakad railway division planned to start track doubling work. The inauguration of the new railway underpass will definitely bring relief to the people that would help vehicles to take alternative routes and avoid traffic congestion on the existing two-lane road. The NHAI had completed 90 per cent of work, but Pallakad railway division’s request to provide extra space for an additional track at the last moment delayed the functioning of railway underpass.
The task of building underpass with the train in function was quite a challenge for NHAI. They had to dig up huge tunnel and push a concrete box when train was running above underpass. NHAI even received warning from the railway department on damage being done to the existing track. The underpass was constructed with hydraulic technology.
Corporator Roopa D Bangera, Vijay Kumar, Sudhir Kumar Shetty, NHAI officer Ajith, engineer Arun and others were present.