Ranchi: Rajya Sabha MP Mahesh Poddar has extended his moral support to those protesting against the construction of the Harmu flyover.

In a tweet on Sunday, in which he tagged the chief minister's office handle, BJP leader Poddar said, "Harmu flyover mein logon ka virodh fir jari. Vibhag zid na karein. Vartaman sadak par bhi flyover ban sakta hai (The protest against Harmu flyover is on. The department should not be stubborn. The flyover can be made even on the existing road)."

Justifying his stand, Poddar said it was wrong to compel people to shift their business elsewhere because of the proposed flyover.

"Harmu flyover can be constructed over the existing road. No land acquisition is required. As far as I know, the width of the flyover will be 48 feet while the width of the existing road is 60-80 feet. The land is being acquired for the construction of a 20-feet footpath on both sides of the existing road that will come under the proposed flyover," Poddar said.

On why he did not talk to urban development and housing department secretary Arun Kumar Singh, the MP said his repeated attempts to discuss the matter with Singh had failed.

This newspaper could not reach Singh for his remarks.

The proposed flyover is being implemented by Jharkhand Urban Infrastructure Development Company (JUIDCO) whose general manager Ramdev Sinha expressed his inability to comment on the issue. "We are not supposed to discuss policy matters," he said.

Another JUIDCO official, however, supported Poddar. "He is not wrong. The width of the flyover is 15 metres, roughly 49 feet, and this can be constructed over the existing road," the official said.

The Harmu flyover is proposed from LPN Nath Shahdeo Chowk on Kanke Road to Kartik Oraon Chowk in Harmu. Its length will be 2.34km. The acquisition of around 246.056 decimal government and 296.028 decimal private land has to be done for the project estimated to cost Rs 121 crore.

On Saturday, shopkeepers of Harmu had shut their establishments as a mark of protest.

What are your views about the flyover project? Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com