ROB to remain closed for 120 days in Ferozepur, NGOs demand repair of alternative routes to avoid inconvenience

ROB to remain closed for 120 days in Ferozepur, NGOs demand repair of alternative routes to avoid inconvenience

Ferozepur, August 14, 2023: The Road over Bridge (ROB) has been ordered to be closed for 120 days from August 19 which connects Ferozepur City-Cantonment, due to elevation of bridge work on account of installation of electric poles, pending for the bridge area only.

The district administration in consultation with the railway has issued an advisory stating that because for the work of de-energizing the railway, it has been decided to close the only bridge of the railway connecting Ferozepur city and the cantonment by road from August 19 so that the work of raising the bridge can be started which will take around 120 days.

Though the alternative routes have been planned, repair work on those routes has not been completed which is likely to create inconvenience to the public, who cross over the bridge daily in thousands, due to traffic jams, especially at the time of school opening and closing time.

As of now, the options of alternative routes available are Ferozepur City to Cantonment via rail under bridge through Basti Tankan Wali, which has a narrow passage, second route is through PSEB road to former BJP MLA residence which too has one railway crossing over Ferozepur-Fazilka railway track and the third one to reach Cantonment area is through Basti Nizamudin which route has two railway crossings to reach Ferozepur-Zira road and third railway crossing to catch Ferozepur-Moga, Ludhiana, Chandigarh-Faridkot roads.

In fact, all the three alternative routes need major repairs because of the worst road condition and clearing of encroachment on the road side via Basti Tankan Wali. In case these are not cleared and repair work not done, then the public is likely to face a lot of inconvenience for about four months both due to road conditions and hot summer days.

The local NGOs have appealed to the district administration to depute the traffic staff on these routes to avoid long jams and repairs and clearance of encroachments well before the start of the work on the road over bridge.