Union MoS Bittu targets Punjab CM Mann over Doraha ROB issue: His words are loud, but the truth is none

Indian Express

21 hours ago

The row over the No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the construction of a pending road over bridge (ROB) between Doraha and Sahnewal on the Ambala-Ludhiana railway section continued even on Tuesday with the Union Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu accusing the AAP-led Punjab government of 'holding back the project for political reasons.'
Meanwhile, Punjab's PWD Minister Harbhajan Singh stated that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann approved the project in October 2024.
The Punjab minister accused the Railways of 'not granting the NOC for the overbridge, even though the central government is not contributing a single rupia for the construction'.
'Despite being Union Minister of State for Railways, Bittu failed to get the necessary approval,' he said.
Bittu, on the other hand, said in a statement, 'Mann's words are loud, but truth is none; he fooled many and served none. This is a new low in dishonesty. The truth is the Punjab government is still holding back the project for political reasons.'
The PWD minister accused Bittu of misleading the public regarding the issue of the Dhuri railway overbridge, stating that the entire funding for the overbridge's construction, Rs 54.46 crore, would be borne by the Punjab government, and the funds had already been released.
The Punjab minister shared related approval documents with the media in Chandigarh, stating that since 2022, when Bhagwant Mann became the Chief Minister, he had announced the construction of this overbridge. 'The government has released Rs 54.46 crore for this purpose,' he added.
Bittu also produced documents, claiming the government was yet to issue a 'clear and correct NOC' for the same.
'On May 2, May 21 and June 2, I wrote to Mann to issue NOC for the project and flagged the inordinate delay, but no response received to date,' Bittu in a statement said.
'The old NOC document, issued on November 11 last year, which Giaspura produced now, was a conditional NOC that was rejected, as it wasn't in accordance with the parameters of the Railways. After that, they have not issued a fresh NOC despite repeated reminders to the CM,' Bittu said.
On Sunday, during a protest, AAP Payal MLA Manwinder Singh Giaspura targeted Bittu for failing to complete the overbridge project in his home district, Ludhiana, but 'playing politics over the similar project in Mann's constituency, Dhuri'.
In Dhuri, Bittu had accused Mann of taking 'fake credit' for the upcoming ROB, and said that 'not a penny for the project has been sanctioned by the AAP government'. On the other hand, Mann had claimed that the Dhuri ROB was being established solely due to the efforts of the state government.
To back his claim, Bittu shared a letter dated June 25 from the Executive Engineer, Construction, PWD Rupnagar, stating that 'the Punjab Government has only conditionally signed the General Arrangement Drawing (GAD) for the ROB. The condition imposed is that Railways must obtain an NOC from PWD before starting execution.'
Bittu said, 'Despite this, the ruling party's MLA is representing an old letter dated 11.11.2024, misrepresenting facts before the public.'
'It's either a case of ignorance or deliberate misinformation. There's been a long chain of official communication after that 2024 letter, and they are conveniently hiding it,' Bittu added.
Bittu said 190 trains pass through this ROB daily, along with over 3,000 vehicles. 'The public continues to suffer, while the Punjab government plays politics. The Railways is fully funding this Rs 70.56-crore project, yet the Punjab government, in alleged collusion with some officials, continues to withhold the necessary NOC,' the minister said.
Bittu said, 'This Level Crossing (LC) number 164A is located between Doraha and Sahnewal stations on the Ambala (UMB)-Ludhiana (LDH) section. In the census of July 2022, the train vehicular unit (TVU) was approximately 6 lakh, so the ROB was proposed.'
'Earlier, the ROB was being built here by the Public Works Department (PWD) of the Punjab government through the concessionaire Atlanta Ropar Tollways Pvt Ltd. Northern Railway Construction. However, this work was terminated by PWD on August 5, 2021,' Bittu said.
'Thereafter, considering the high TVU of around 6 lakh, the work was sanctioned by the Railway Board, amounting to Rs 70.56 crore vide letter dated 29.02.2024. To avoid any contractual disputes at a later stage, the Railways wrote letters to the PWD twice in September last year for granting the NOC,' he said.
'On November 11, 2024, PWD, Punjab, issued the NOC letter to the Railways, but some of the terms and conditions of the NOC were not acceptable to Northern Railways such as taking the responsibility of the arbitration case ongoing between the Punjab government and the private firm which was earlier executing the work. A meeting was held in the conference hall of Punjab Secretariat in Chandigarh on January 27 between the representatives of the Railways and PWD officials led by secretary Ravi Bhagat to resolve the issue regarding the conditional NOC issued by PWD, Punjab, wherein it was decided that the Punjab government will relook into the legal aspect of this issue,' Bittu said.
'Multiple letters were written to the PWD and to the CM to remind them about the issuance of the NOC, but it hasn't been done to date,' Bittu added.
The PWD minister, however, pointed out that in June 2021, when the Congress government was in power in Punjab, the traffic at the site was already around 1.75 lakh vehicles daily. 'However, Bittu did not raise the issue at that time. Now, he is engaging in false rhetoric to hide his failures.'
He further said, 'Rs 1.32 crore has been released to PSPCL for utility shifting, and Rs 1.42 crore has been allocated to the Forest Department for the same.'
Challenging Bittu, the PWD minister said, 'If he genuinely cares for the people of Punjab, he should facilitate the issuance of the NOC from the Railways. If Bittu can secure the Railways' approval within two days, the state government will commence the construction work on the third day itself, as the required funds are already available. The state government is only waiting for the Railways' NOC to begin the project.'