Ram Jhula' delayed by 6 mths

The people of Nagpur will have to wait at least six months more for the iconic Rs 60-crore cable-stayed railway overbridge (ROB) near Santra
Market, dubbed Ram Jhula', to be ready. Its opening deadline has been extended by another six months. Until then, traffic near the railway station and Santra Market is not expected to get better.

In May last year, then minister for public works department (special projects) Anil Deshmukh had announced that at least three lanes of the six-lane Ram Jhula' will be open for traffic by July 2009. However, top officials of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), the agency building the project, on Tuesday said it was not expected to happen before January 2010.

Officials, who did not wish to be quoted, informed that the pylon head and cable-stayed designs submitted by the contractor Afcons Infrastructures Limited were still under scrutiny of the railways. Earlier, clearance was expected last week but now they said it would come only next week. Officials still denied that work was going on at a snail's pace.

"Even after we get clearances, it would take another 6-8 months to complete the three lanes. Some 40% of the work has been completed now, we have asked Afcons to complete the three lanes by December-end. We will try our level best to open it by January next year. Completing another three lanes will take two more years," a top MSRDC official told TOI.

In May last year, there was a spat between MSRDC and the Central Railway over delay in clearing cable and pile designs. Now, the officials deny any differences between them and railway officials. "All is going well. Preliminary testings have found the cable designs to be all right," he added.

"Due to operational railway tracks underneath, one has to be very cautious with constructing 55 metre pylon (superstructure) and cable-laying," officials said. They said the 600-metre-long bridge with a 200-metre cable-stayed portion will be the first in the country to be built in a congested place like railway station. Similar bridges have been constructed in Bangalore and Patna, but these are small and do not go over live and electrified railway tracks.