Vehicles cross the level crossing near Pokhariput railway station. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswarm, Aug. 13: Work for the proposed flyover over Pokhariput railway station could not start at the Bhimatangi end because of land acquisition problems.

While the railway authorities have already started work to construct three pillars on their land at the Lingaraj Vihar end of Pokhariput, local residents and daily commuters fear that the flyover project would get delayed because of land problems on the other side.

The foundation stone of the flyover was laid during the local self-government day celebrations on August 31 last year by chief minister Naveen Patnaik. The Rs 36.74-crore project will be jointly executed by the East Coast Railway (ECoR) and the state government.

The ECoR will finish the construction on their land, while the public works department will construct the other portions, including the approach roads and the two abutments. An abutment is a structure, which joins a bridge to the approach road.

While the flyover will be 401-metre long, the approach road from Bhimatangi and Pokhariput ends will be 161-metre and 88-metre long, respectively. The railway will construct three pillars, while PWD is supposed to construct the remaining 12 pillars.

Babuli Swain, a shop owner at the BDA market complex in Pokhariput, said: “There is no sign of any work on the Bhimatangi-Kapilaprasad side. However, constriction on this side has started in full scale. I wonder how the project will be completed on time without starting the work on the other side simultaneously.”

“The plaque on the foundation stone says that the construction work will be finished within two years. But it seems the bridge will take more time as construction on the other side is yet to begin,” he added.

Rashmiprabha Das, a homemaker who resides at Ananta Vihar Phase-II, said: “The construction will require excavating the soil. But the area should be cordoned off with adequate support during night hours, as the entire area is thickly-populated and the streetlights remain dysfunctional most of the times.”

Assistant engineer of the Division-II of the PWD Sisir Mishra said: “People will have to suffer a bit so that we can develop infrastructure in time. However, we will ask the contractors to keep an eye on the safety aspect as the area is frequented by school and college-going students and senior citizens.”