Chief minister Naveen Patnaik lays the foundation stone for a railway overbridge at Soro in Balasore. Telegraph picture

Balasore, Jan. 30: A railway overbridge at Soro might materialise in the near future with chief minister Naveen Patnaik laying its foundation stone today.

The 790metres overbridge, which includes an approach road, has been a long-standing demand of the residents.

The bridge will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 66 crore and the deadline for its completion is August 2016.

The Centre and the state government will share the cost, with the works department assigned most of the job.

Executive engineer of the works department B.C. Lenka said: “Except the top 35 metres of the overbridge, rest will be constructed by us. The bridge will have a width of 11.5 metres.”

Not only the elected representatives, but also people from various cross sections of society, including intellectuals, merchants and traders associations, have been demanding construction of the overbridge for the past few years.

In the past, people had resorted to agitations alleging step-motherly attitude of the south-eastern railways.

“The railway authorities had turned a deaf ear to our longstanding demand. Since Soro railway station is towards the tail end of south-eastern railways, the demand was ignored,” said Ramakanta Nayak, convener of Joint Action Committee and secretary of Soro Citizens’ Forum.

“Soro desperately needs an overbridge in view of its growing population and heightened business activities. Besides, some trains should stop here to ensure direct access to the district headquarters, state capital and national capital,” said Shyam Sundar Pradhan, another member of the action committee.

Apart from laying the foundation stone of the bridge, the chief minister also inaugurated a 250 capacity sub-jail at Soro, which has been built at a cost of Rs 1.21 crore by the Odisha State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation.

Speaking about popular schemes launched by his government, Naveen lambasted the Congress-led UPA and called upon the people to strengthen the BJD.