A day after two deaths on railway tracks, stalled road over bridge angers Kalunga locals

ROURKELA: A day after two persons were killed and as many sustained critical injuries after being hit by a train at the Kalunga level-crossing on Tuesday night, the incident triggered massive anger among the locals over the inordinate delay in completion of a road over bridge (ROB) project in the area. Government Railway Police (GRP) identified the deceased as Pankaj Sharma (34) of Himachal Pradesh and Lalit Kumar (30), a native of Bihar. To avoid waiting, the deceased and the injured, all workers of nearby plants, were trying to sneak through the level-crossing gate at night which was closed at that time due to passing of a goods train on a line.

The four were trying to hurriedly cross the track when the Darbhanga-Secunderabad Express train hit them. The incident occurred on Tuesday night. While Sharma and Kumar were crushed to death, the other two sustained injuries and were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.



Following the incident, angry residents of Kalunga along with the local panchayat samiti member Birendra Lal on Wednesday submitted a memorandum to the deputy Speaker and Talsara MLA BH Bhoi and SER authorities urging to ensure expeditious completion of the under-construction road over bridge (ROB) over the Kalunga level-crossing no 215. They requested the SER authorities to allow passage of two-wheelers and small ambulances through the nearby under-bridge to save them from long detention during passage of multiple trains at a time and help avoid similar mishaps. Asif Iqbal, a resident of Kalunga complained commuters are made to wait for 45 to 90 minutes at a stretch at the level-crossing due to passage of five to six trains in quick succession.

“When the level-crossing is closed, hundreds of vehicles remain stranded on both sides for a long time,” he added. The Kalunga road across the level-crossing is used by heavy transport vehicles of different industries along with villagers of the Gurundia block and at least 10 gram panchayats of Lathikata block to reach Rourkela and other areas and hence very prone to traffic congestion, Iqbal added. Sources said the ROB project was sanctioned during 2010 but has been delayed due to the alleged negligence of the state government and SER.

Two years ago, the Odisha Bridge & Construction Corporation (OBCC) was entrusted to carry out construction works on both sides of the ROB, while SER was responsible for construction of the middle portion over the railway tracks. The SER has erected few pillars and girders, while the OBCC is yet to physically start work after removing encroachments and shifting of utilities from both sides, the sources added..