MARGAO: Confident of getting the underpass near Chandor station on the South Western Railways constructed soon, South Goa Member of Parliament Narendra Sawaikar claims Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu has in principle agreed to its construction by the Railways.
In a vide letter dated November 3, 2016 Narendra had asked the Railway Minister to at least lay the foundation for the underpass particularly in view of the fact that Goa would be heading for general elections in a few months.
However, as the State government did not submit the letter expressing its willingness to bear 50 per cent of the cost, the project could not be started.
Incidentally, the level crossing near Chandor Railway Station qualifies for grade separator (road overbridge or road underbridge) as the level crossing is closed more than 12 times a day and also has over one lakh train vehicle units.
The South Western Railways is waiting for a letter from the State government giving permission to construct the grade separator on 50 per cent cost-sharing basis, which the State government did not give probably due to resource crunch.
According to Sawaikar, the Railways Minister has now agreed to construct the grade separator entirely at its cost without asking for any contribution from the State government.
It may be recalled that on April 7, Cuncolim MLA Clafasio Dias led a morcha of residents of Chandor and Guirdolim demanding an underpass at the present level crossing and a fortnight back he met the South Western Railways Manager at Hubli with regards to the same matter.
