Kollam overbridge a distant dream

This is the Final Year project that Anoop, Alex, Sunil and Shaji worked on. This is currently stuck due to political issues. More info from the Article.

It seems that the railway overbridge that would ease the traffic congestion in Kollam city considerably promises will remain a dream for many more years amid political wrangling. Now the foundation stone for the bridge, laid in 2003, remains a testimony for all the allegations and counter-allegations between the UDF and LDF over the bridge.

An MP, P Rajendran, in January last, had alleged that the previous UDF Government, which had refused to initiate work on the bridge, stalled its prospects even after he managed to get a token amount allocated for the project in the Railway Budget for 2001-02. However, the then UDF Government did not move even a single file regarding the construction of the approach road, which was the State's responsibility, Rajendran said.

The UDF has retorted saying that the LDF, which had used the issue in campaign for the last election, has not allocated even a token amount for the overbridge in its Budget. Rajendran said that all procedures regarding the approach road would be completed by the LDF Government in three months and the work on the bridge would be completed in a year.

The proposal for the railway overbridge appeared first in the Kollam master plan prepared in 1980. In October 2003, then Railway Minister Nitish Kumar had laid the foundation stone for the bridge. By that time, the Railways had completed the procedure for tender. It was cancelled later.

The UDF camp feels that the tender was for the Railways' portion alone and it was against the earlier decision to entrust the works on both the bridge and the approach road to the Kerala Roads and Bridges Development Corporation (RBDC).

But the Parliament member counters this argument saying that bifurcation of the bridgework was not done at his behest. He says the work was bifurcated after the collapse of an overbridge constructed by the RBDC.

"That tender was already on the anvil before this particular incident of bridge collapse. Actually, the mishap proved to be a blessing for those who wanted to take over the work from the RBDC. The MP himself caused bifurcation of the work to expedite its inauguration for citing it as one of his major achievements. That blocked the work," says Suresh Babu, a member of the district Congress committee.

The total estimated cost of the bridge was Rs 11.64 crore on a cost-sharing basis. An amount of Rs 5.88 crore was to come from the Railways and the State Government was to put in Rs 5.76 crore as its share. The Railways invited tender once more for the work of its portion in 2005.

An LDF source says, "The then LDF Government had on December 5,1999, included the bridge in its schedule and had referred it for the Centre's approval on January 28, 2000. Till date, nothing has been done to implement the project."



He adds, "The Railways is saying that the traffic volume thorough the 541 level-cross, in whose place the bridge is to come, at SP Office junction was below one lakh vehicles per day. A re-census was conducted after considerable effort from the Parliament member and the traffic volume was estimated as 1,45,740. This was a turning point on way to construction of the bridge and the Railways officially declared that the level cross was eligible to be converted into a bridge in October 2000. The Railways prepared the general arrangement drawing (GAD) and the State Government approved it. By that time, a UDF Government had taken charge in the State. It was then that the project slowed down."

The UDF refutes this argument saying that the Railways conducted the census when the level-cross remained closed for several days. The LDF could not even convince the Railways the reason behind this. The re-census was a routine one held by the Railways usually at regular intervals. The work was included in the Railway Work Programme of 2001-2002 after the UDF came into power, Congress sources say. "Actually, the then UDF Government on May 5, 2003, had sent a letter to the Chief Engineer, Southern Railway, seeking approval for the GAD and to get the work contract for both the bridge and the approach road accorded to the RBDC," said a Congress source.

However, the CPI(M) alleges that the then UDF Government had purposefully demanded shifting of the bridge site from level-cross 541 to 543 at the College Junction. They allege that former Employment Affairs Minister Babu Divakaran has some personal interest in this, fearing that the bridge passing through the park in the name of his father would harm it.

However, the Kollam overbridge remains a dream even after two of the 23 over-bridges proposed as part of the Railways programme of 2001 were inaugurated and works on another 12 have been partially completed.