Nearly six years have elapsed and more than Rs. 68 crore spent, yet the road overbridge (RoB) at Hi-tec City MMTS station remains a distant dream.
The prestigious project to connect Kukatpally with Madhapur has overshot several deadlines, the last being December 2012. In the process, the budget has also shot up from Rs. 24 crore to Rs. 68.68 crore and by the time the bridge is completed, it could gobble up a few more crores.
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) has completed its share of work on either side of the railway line near the MMTS station. But delays have been accumulating for the work related to the stretch that flies over the rail tracks.
Block period
The officials say they are waiting for a word from the South Central Railway (SCR) to take up the work over the tracks. For this, the railways have to adjust the schedule of some services, cancel some and squeeze in a ‘block period’, and the same has not been done so far.
“Given the busy schedule during Sankranti, we were promised required time after the festival. We are waiting for it,” says an official.
The line has several long distance express trains apart from goods, passenger and MMTS services and the schedule of some of these will be affected during the work period. Even the speed of the trains has to be reduced close to the site when work is in progress.
The HMDA has sought at least 16 block periods of 150 minutes each. “There are issues about how many minutes can be allowed and how many such time-frames can be provided,” he says.
The long distance trains apart, a total of 13 MMTS and three passenger services are likely to be affected for the duration of the work. The HMDA is hoping for an early time schedule with a block period of at least two days, including Sunday.
“We have been told that there are no major express trains on Tuesday. So along with Sunday which has less number of MMTS trains, we are hoping to get permission to work on Tuesday,” the official says. The railways too has a problem, he concedes, adding that cancellations and rescheduling meant disrupting the train schedules on the line for almost next two days. “We understand their predicament but we have a project to complete,” he adds.
Meanwhile, the HMDA has completed the launching of 16 girders on either side of the tracks and is in the process of readying the decks. Another 32 girders have to be launched on the railways portion.
