Much-awaited Madhura Nagar railway underbridge to come up at Rs 17 crore

As many as 18 trains commute to Gudivada, Machilipatnam and Narasapur from Vijayawada through Madhura Nagar.
For representational purposes (File Photo | PTI)
For representational purposes (File Photo | PTI)

VIJAYAWADA: The much-awaited railway underbridge (RUB) near Madhura Nagar railway station will be developed in the months to come, as the State government has approved Rs 17.42 crore, out of Rs 50 crore sanctioned to the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC), for it.

As many as 18 trains commute to Gudivada, Machilipatnam and Narasapur from Vijayawada through Madhura Nagar. As such, the railway gate there remains closed for approximately an hour a day, making it difficult for the vehicular traffic going to and coming from Bhanu Nagar, Pasupu Thota and Devi Nagar during the peak hours.

On several occasions, the situation turned so bad that emergency services such as ambulances and fire tenders were stuck in the traffic and could not reach the needy persons.

As per the information provided by the civic officials, the Railways and the VMC entered into an agreement for construction of the RUB at an estimated cost of Rs 50 lakh in 2012. However, the project could not be executed due to reasons unknown.

In 2019, then MLA of the Central constituency, Bonda Umamaheswara Rao, and the civic officials took part in a ground-breaking ceremony for materialising the project. However, there was no work executed with regards to the RUB.

Recently, municipal commissioner V Prasanna Venkatesh wrote to the State government, citing the need for the construction of the underbridge near Madhura Nagar and requested for allocation of necessary funds for the same.

Considering the severity of the problem being faced by the residents of Madhura Nagar and its surrounding areas, the government directed the civic chief to make use of Rs 17.42 crore from the special grant sanctioned in September 2019. “The RUB will be constructed between the Mosque Centre, Bhanu Nagar and Madhura Nagar Park. Ancillary works, such as construction of retaining walls and approaches on both sides of RUB, will be taken up by the VMC,” said a senior SCR official.

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