Corporation misses its own deadline yet again

Tirupati: Once again, the civic corporation has missed its own deadline in completing the much needed Road Under Bridge (RUB) connecting the north and south sides of the city at Rayala Cheruvu Road at the close vicinity of the railway station.

The works were started in November 2020 setting the time limit as six months for completion. But, even after 21 months, the works are still going on causing severe hardships to the denizens and traders at RC Road and Nethaji street.

Though the South Central Railway (SCR) has shown interest in taking up the RUB works since 2018, there was much delay from the municipal corporation side in diverting the pipelines and drains beneath the track. Finally, the works were inaugurated on November 23, 2020. Though it was done during Covid pandemic, both the Municipal Corporation and Railways have cited the pandemic as the reason for the delay.

However, subsequently the SCR has completed its part and handed over to Corporation more than eight months back for taking up the remaining works like laying of approach roads etc., Till then, much progress was not seen in the works and the Corporation authorities have changed the deadline for completion several times before giving a final deadline of July 31.

Still, as the works could not be completed, Commissioner Anupama Anjali visited the work site on July 26 and announced yet another deadline of August 31. Though major parts of the works are completed there are still some pending works which may take a few more days for completion.

The denizens and most importantly the traders at the adjoining roads who have been feeling the heat for all these months have been lamenting at the negligence of Corporation authorities in ensuring the speedy completion. They were of the view that it may take another 15-30 days for the bridge to come into full use. Unless the pending works are taken up on war-footing, it may take another month to open the bridge for use.

The president of Nethaji Road Traders Association K Venkataramana said that the works were going at a slow pace causing inconvenience to them. On Monday, they tried to contact the Commissioner during the Spandana programme but could not get the line even after repeated attempts.

Speaking to The Hans India, the Superintending Engineer of Municipal Corporation of Tirupati Tirumalika Mohan said that rains have hampered the works and in the next 10 days it will be made functional.