Ram Jhula deadlock broken: Moghe
Category :
City |
Posted Date :
14/07/2011
NAGPUR: State government has finally broken the deadlock stalling the vital Ram Jhula railway overbridge. In the meeting of guardian ministers held in Mumbai, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan decided that 30% of the escalated cost would be borne by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) while MSRDC would pay the remaining 70%.
Nagpur guardian minister Shivajirao Moghe said that works worth Rs 30 crore were pending as per the original contract. However, the contractor was demanding Rs 71 crore as price of construction materials had gone up. "We had issued a show cause notice to the contractor. A committee under principal secretary (urban development), NMC commissioner and MSRDC managing director then examined the issue. The project had started more than a year behind schedule. The committee felt that the escalation was justified and hence agreed to pay the amount," he said.
The contract for this six lane bridge was given by MSRDC in January 2006 to Afcons Infrastructure. In July 2009, MSRDC promised to open at least three lanes by January 2010. However, the deadline was then extended to April and then to September.
Frequent extension of deadlines irked Nagpurians and some organizations starting staging protests from 2010 end. Fed up of government dilly-dallying a trade organization NCCL decided to file a PIL in Nagpur high court.
Moghe further said that Gorewada zoo project would be tabled in the next cabinet meeting and then a proposal would be sent to central government for approval.
About long talked of convention centre project in city, Moghe said, "We pointed to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan that Nagpur did not have a big auditorium. The biggest auditorium Deshpande Hall only has a capacity of 1,200, which is woefully inadequate. Nagpur is the second capital of Maharashtra and hence it should have an auditorium befitting that stature. CM decided that revenue department would give the land for construction of the convention centre."
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