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Ever since the BJP government came to power in 2012, there’s been promises galore by the ruling dispensation to ease the acute traffic congestion at the railway crossings across Salcete taluka via the Road Over Bridges (ROBs). While both the Konkan Railway Corporation and the Indian Railways have expressed its willingness to build the ROBs on a 50 per cent cost-sharing basis, The Goan has found out that the Road Over Bridges have failed to take shape at the crossings for the simple reason that the State government has been dilly-dallying over the projects for want of funds.
Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and his Transport Minister Sudin Dhavalikar must have certainly expected Goa’s son-in-law and Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to bail out the State government on the question of building ROBs in the state during his visit to Goa on Sunday to flag off the Rajdhani Express to Delhi. Both had succeeded in drawing Prabhu’s attention on the dire need to finance the ROBs across the state in a bid to reduce congestion in the towns and villages and also help the government fulfil the promises. The Railway Minister, however, sounded non-committal in bearing the entire cost of the ROBs, while only inviting the State’s Transport Minister to Delhi for discussions on the issue, fully aware of the railway's policy to build ROBs on a 50 per cent cost-sharing basis.
Indeed, construction of ROBs have been hit hard along the Konkan railway route passing through Salcete taluka for want of funds from the State government. It’s now more than a year since the Konkan Railway Corporation had proposed construction of five Road Over Bridges at the railway crossings in densely-populated areas at Davorlim, Margao-Comba, Seraulim, Majorda and Utorda.
Inquiries by The Goan have revealed that all these five ROBs would have taken shape by now had the State government pumped in Rs 60 crore, the 50 per cent cost of building the road over bridges. Konkan Railway estimated has pegged the total cost of building these five ROBs to a whopping Rs 117.77 crore.
Says KRC Senior Public Relations Manager, Baban Ghatge: “The KRC had submitted the proposal to the Goa government around two years ago with detailed estimates. It’s the policy of the railway to execute the ROBs on 50 per cent cost-sharing basis. The same proposal was submitted by the KRC to the state government. We have still not received an official nod from the government to take up work on the ROBs,” Ghatge said.
That the Chief Minister and his Transport Minister took up the ROB issue with the Union Railway Minister shows that the government is looking at the Railways to take up work on the ROBs departmentally. Prabhu, however, has maintained the Railways have a unique scheme where cost of the ROBs is shared with the respective government on 50 per cent basis. The Railway Minister has invited the State’s Transport Minister to visit Delhi with a proposal on how to go about and settle the ROB issue.
In Prabhu’s own words, it will take a couple of months more to resolve the ROB issue, indicating that citizens of Salcete will have to live with the railway crossings and the traffic congestions for the time being.
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Avertano confident of Davorlim ROB's completion
Will the Goa government execute work on the Road Over Bridge (ROB) at Davorlim in Navelim constituency if it has no funds to take up work on the five ROBs sanctioned for Goa?
Fisheries Minister and Navelim MLA Avertano Furtado has exuded confidence that work on the Davorlim ROB in his constituency will be taken up immediately. When The Goan drew his attention to the fact that the five sanctioned ROBs for Goa, including the one at Davorlim, have not been implemented till date for want of funds, Avertano said that the file pertaining to the Davorlim ROB has gone to the Finance Department for sanction.
The Davorlim ROB is estimated to cost a whopping Rs 24 crore, of which the state government is required to chip in 50 per cent of the funds as per the railway scheme. This implies that the Goa government will have to make available Rs 12 crore for the Davorlim ROB.
"The government has sanctioned five ROBs for Goa, but work on the project can commence only as per the 50 per cent cost-sharing scheme. But, since Goa’s Transport Minister Sudin Dhavlikar has volunteered to come to Delhi, the ROB issue will be discussed in detail and resolve the impasse."
"We appreciate that the railways has given Goa five ROBs, but the problem is the government is facing a resource crunch to execute work on the bridges. I am confident the Union Railway Minister will bail out the Goa government and implement the proposal at the earliest."
"Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has announced a number of ROBs in this year’s Railway Budget. I have no doubt that the ROBs sanctioned by the Railways will be implemented in the State in the coming months."
Estimated cost --- Rs 17.70 crore
Length “ 551 metres
Estimated cost -- Rs 26.16 crore
Length “ 582 metres
Estimated cost --- Rs 27.84 crore
Length “ 779 metres
Estimated cost “ Rs 22.37 crore
Length - 705 metres
Estimated cost “ Rs 24 crore
Length “ 490 metres
