ROB work comes to a standstill

ROB work comes to a standstill
By Nandini Chandrashekhar, DH News Service, Bangalore:
If one did not know better, then it would be easy to think that the half completed Railway Overbridge (ROB) from Wheeler Road to ITC Factory was a true relic of the past...


Lonely, half finished pillars stand abandoned amidst mounds of sand and stones. Not a single worker is visible confirming the fact, that work is at a complete standstill. This adds to the frustration of the residents, battling with an incomplete project.

The construction of the ROB began in June 2006 and was expected to be completed in December 2007. The ROB is expected to be ease the heavy traffic building up on Wheeler’s road and connects it all the way to ITC Factory and over the railway line. A joint venture of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and South Western Railways (SWR), the project is nowhere near complete, nine months after the supposed date of completion.

On the Wheeler road side, the roads on either side of the flyover are mud paths. While it is completely blocked on one side, the other is a muddy, water filled mess, strewn with concrete slabs, that pass for a road and vehicles try every trick possible to maneuver themselves around the place.

Overflowing water

To make matters worse, water overflows onto the road during the rains, as BBMP which was completing a drain for the water, just abandoned the work. Shops adjacent to the flyover have been completely closed down and the bravehearts who remain, are dealing with a 50 per cent loss in business. Says a resident “We were initially prepared to put up with the hardship, since we thought it would be completed on time. But now, not only have they delayed the project, but they have stopped the work entirely. My business is only half of what it was before.
How long can we sustain under loss?”

A Railway official at the site confirmed that work had indeed stopped for the last six months. While BBMP is responsible for obtaining the land clearances, designs and approaches, SWR is responsible for the actual construction of the ROB. By the time, BBMP got all the clearances for the land, steel prices had increased exponentially. Contractors refused to work under the agreed price and so began another round of consultations and negotiations to agree on a price.

The official also says that BBMP officials are quick to promise money for the project, but that never translates to actuality.

The situation was further worsened by the rain, which made any kind of work impossible. Work is now reluctantly beginning on the 700 metre ramp on the ITC factory side.

In the meantime, residents are left with only assurances that ROB will be complete by February 2009.
Vaidyanathan, President of the Residents Welfare Association says that they are now determined to have a review meeting by the end of September. Fed up with assurances, they now intend to keep a close watch on the construction work and keep up the pressure on the authorities.