Bhubaneswar: Railway Board has sanctioned Rs 14.7 crore for construction of a subway in Odisha’s Balasore district.
The subway will come up near Nidhipada bridge in the district. It is an important bridge in Haldipada-Balasore section on Kharagpur-Bhadrak route.
One of the spans of this bridge is being used by vehicular commuters and pedestrian traffic. The area gets waterlogged during monsoon and the crossing under the bridge becomes unapproachable cutting connectivity to villages.
During the visit of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to Balasore on June 21, the villagers had apprised him of their problems and raised their long pending demand for construction of the subway.
On the Minister’s instructions, a survey was conducted for provision of alternate and safe arrangement for vehicular traffic as well as pedestrians. A scheme was prepared whereby a subway of 5m width and 5m height was proposed at the approach of the bridge at Kharagpur end.
Following the minister’s approval, the designing team of the Railways prepared its design which was approved by the competent authority. The subway will be used for communication of all kinds of vehicles including heavy vehicles. The construction work will commence soon.
A second subway having dimensions of 4m in width and 2.7m in height is proposed. It will be about 1.6m above the bed level of the bridge and will act as an all-weather road even in times of heavy water discharges.
