Pataudi villagers threaten to block rail lines, road links
GURUGRAM: Residents of Pahari village in Pataudi have threatened to launch a protest if the rail overbridge (ROB) on the Gurugram-Pataudi side, which got damaged on Saturday, is not repaired at the earliest. The villagers asked the government to restore their passage to Rewari, otherwise they will block the road from Pataudi to Rewari and stop the movement of trains on the railway line going towards Rewari.
On Saturday morning, a large chunk of concrete fell off the Pataudi ROB at Gurugram-Pataudi Road on the Delhi-Jaipur railway line, leaving a six-foot wide hole on the six-month-old flyover.
At a panchayat held on Sunday, the villagers said that without the connectivity of ROB at Pataudi, they have to travel an extra 10km to reach Rewari. The public works department has closed the ROB after the concrete chunk fell off from it.
Pradeep Yadav, sarpanch, Pahari village, said, “A panchayat was held on Sunday. It was decided by the elders of the village that PWD and the state government need to give a clear passage to us to travel till Rewari.”
The village head went on to say that farmers of Pahari village have to travel to Rewari regularly.
“This ROB was our lifeline. Now, not having it will only add to our worries,” he said.
The two-lane ROB was constructed for ₹13.81 crore. The construction of the ROB was initiated in 2016 and was thrown open to the public in September last year.
The panchayat also took up the issues which have left the Pataudi Pahari area still underdeveloped. In 2018, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had come to the village and made four to five promises and none of them have been fulfilled till date, said the villagers.
Vijay Kumar, ex-sarpanch, Pahari village, said, “All of us have decided that if the ROB is not restored, then we will stage a massive protest and block all routes going towards Rewari.”
The villagers alleged that the ROB was constructed in a lackadaisical manner by PWD officials, and any day the entire flyover will come down. “PWD officials didn’t construct this ROB in a manner it should have been constructed. It is so weak that bigger chunks of concrete are waiting to come off,” said Yadav.
Gurugram-based RTI activist Ramesh Yadav, who has been instrumental in getting FIRs registered in such cases earlier, said that he has submitted a complaint to the Pataudi police station so that the matter can be investigated properly.
Meanwhile, PWD officials said that the ROB was constructed as per norms and they will conduct a thorough investigation into the incident. Puneet Kumar Narwal, executive engineer, PWD, said, “The allegations are wrong. No compromise was done. Investigations are going on and only then will I be able to say anything regarding what happened.”