JAGRAON BRIDGE PROJECT: LUDHIANA MP WRITES TO UNION MINISTER OF RAILWAYS

Ludhiana, February 20, 2019: Perturbed over the delay in the completion of Jagraon Bridge project, Ludhiana MP Mr Ravneet Singh Bittu has written a letter to Union Minister of Railways Mr Piyush Goyal, demanding that a high powered committee should be constituted to investigate all facts of the project and fix responsibility of concerned department, erring officers and penalise the contractor for causing delay to this project.

Mr Bittu had visited the project site last evening and had taken serious note of the constant delay for the completion of this project.

In a strong worded letter, the Ludhiana MP stated that in July 2016, one side of the Jagraon bridge was closed by the then government, while Railways declaring it unsafe for movement of vehicular traffic. He stated that after a long wait of almost one year, i.e. in 2017, when the Congress party formed government in the state, the Punjab government released funds amounting to approximately Rs 26 crore to the Municipal Corporation Ludhiana for this project. He informed that these funds were further transferred to the Railways Department to execute the project so that the project can be completed at the earliest and closure of one side of Jagraon Bridge does not cause inconvenience to the public.

"But it has been seen that the pace of the work is very slow since the beginning and with the current pace of work, the project could not be completed in stipulated time period because the deadline for the completion of this project would end soon. This would also cause a lot of traffic problem to the citizens as well as the travellers coming from Delhi side," read a portion of letter.

Mr Ravneet Singh Bittu said that the executive department took a long time for finalising the design and drawing of this project, besides the contractor has also delayed the project for reasons best known to him. "In view of the above, it is recommended that a high powered committee should be constituted to investigate all facts of the project and fix responsibility of concerned department, erring officers and penalise the contractor for causing delay to this project," read the letter.

Mr Bittu asked the railway authorities to ensure timely completion of this project, else action would be taken against them for causing inconvenience to the public.