The proposed railway overbridge in Ramanagar is yet to take off although funds were sanctioned for it three years ago. The bridge was sanctioned by the Railways in the 2012 budget and received allotment of funds in the 2013 railway budget. The cost of the project was estimated at Rs 42 crore with proviso that the State Government would have to contribute 50 per cent of it.
However, due to the paralysis of the administration due to the Samaikyandhra movement, tenders were never called for the project.
When bifurcation was announced and elections were called, the electoral code of conduct came in the way of the officials issuing the tender notification. After the poll results were declared, work on preparing the tender document commenced and a tender notification was issued over six months ago.
The response from bidders was lukewarm. Only one application was received by the Roads & Buildings (R&B) Department, which is the nodal agency for the project.
Tenders were called for a second time because the response had not been satisfactory. This time, only two parties filed their bids.The official position on the subject is that a proposal was sent by R&B to the tenders commissionerate almost two months ago and a response awaited.
But a senior official told The Hindu, speaking on the condition of anonymity, that the delay was due to ‘local considerations.’
