Amid the gradual opening up of economic activity, the Uttar Pradesh government has given a fresh budgetary push to as many as 20 Railway Over Bridges worth nearly Rs 1,000 crores. The PWD department has released the final tranche of Rs 90 crores to UP Bridge Corporation to complete the construction of ROBs in various districts, including, Lucknow, Varanasi, Gautam Budh Nagar, Kannauj, Etawah, Kanpur, Aligarh, Prayagraj, Agra, Hathras, Jaunpur, Jalaun, Mathura and Firozabad.
Earlier, the UP government had released over Rs 800 crores. The fresh budgetary allocation comes as the state government expedites construction of infrastructural facilities, which had come to a grinding halt following the pandemic. A senior PWD official said that most of these ROBs have been partially constructed.
“The allocation would allow the department to complete the construction with the help of railways,” he said. In Varanasi, the ROBs are constructed in Varanasi-Ghazipur road, Babtpur, Bhadohi road, while in Gautam Budh Nagar, the ROB is constructed on Dadri-Surajpur road, Likewise, in Kanpur, the proposed ROBs are being constructed at Ganga Ghat and Govindpuri.
In Lucknow, the ROB is being constructed on left bank of Kukrail culvert over Lucknow-Badshahnagar-Barabanki railway line and in Mauda Mohan road on Lucknow-Kanpur national highway.
According to a government order issued by PWD, the spending of budget would be done as per budgetary manual and financial handbook of the state government. Under no circumstances, the budget would be diverted for any other purpose, the order said.