Civic body sets Aug 31 as fresh deadline to complete RuB works

Tirupati: As expected, again the deadline for completing road under bridge (RUB) works at the busy RC Road level crossing works has been postponed to August-end.

The negligence of Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) could be seen at every stage in completing these works which caused abnormal delay in its execution. Though it was said that the works will be completed in six months when they were started in November 2020 so far it took almost 20 months and yet could not be completed. The railway authorities have completed their part of the works long back and handed it over to the corporation to complete other works relating to the laying of approach roads on either side of the bridge by diverting the water and UDS lines and other cables.But, with the apathy of Corporation officials and lack of initiation of local public representatives ignoring the difficulties of the people and more importantly the woes of the traders on the adjoining Nethaji street and RC road traders, the works are moving at a snail's pace.

It has become a regular practice for the officials to postpone the deadline from time to time.

When the traders demanded the speedy completion of the bridge works, they were earlier assured that they would be completed by January 2022 and later pushed the date to Ugadi which could not be met. The traders have expressed their agony and came on to the streets in June and rallied in the main streets to reach the Corporation office to submit a memorandum to the officials and the local MLA.

Even at that time, MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy assured them that the works will be completed by July 31. Still, the works towards Nethaji street side were not started till July and even after that there was a very slow progress.

Mayor Dr R Sirisha and Municipal Commissioner Anupama Anjali visited the site on Tuesday and announced August 31 as a new deadline to complete the project, forcing the people and traders to bear the difficulties for some more time. The traders have expressed their displeasure over the abnormal delay in the execution of works.

Tirupati Chamber of Commerce president A Manjunath told The Hans India that the traders have been facing huge hardships by losing their business activities due to the delay. Further, had the works been completed early, the existing traffic snarls in the city due to the Srinivasa Setu works could be avoided to a great extent as many people can take this route.

He expressed hope that the works will at least be completed before August 31 without witnessing any further extension.