Amritsar, January 7
Local residents and activists have demanded installation of iron girders and deployment of police personnel on both sides of the Rego Railway overbridge (ROB) for the commuters’ safety and regulation of traffic. The district administration had declared the bridge unsafe for commuters.
“To comply with the orders of the Deputy Commissioner, the Municipal Corporation Commissioner must make arrangements at the earliest to install iron girders of a suitable height for smooth passage of two-wheeler riders on both sides of the railway overbridge.
For safeguarding the girders and to streamline the traffic, the Commissioner of Police must also deploy police personnel on both sides of the bridge,” said Hardip Singh Chahal, an activist.
In October 2022, the Deputy Commissioner had deputed the SDM-1 to ascertain the strength of the Rego Bridge. Referring to the report prepared by the competent authorities of IIT, Roorkee, the SDM-1 submitted the report with the office of the Deputy Commissioner recommending to allow only two-wheelers to pass over the bridge.
“As the bridge had crossed the stipulated life-period decades ago, now it is not fit for four-wheelers. To safeguard four-wheelers from any mishap, fixing strong iron girders on both sides of the overbridge is the need of the hour, said Kulwant Singh Ankhi of Amritsar Vikas Manch.
Considered one of the oldest bridges in the city, built in the British era after the annexation of Punjab, the ROB was repaired way back in 1982. The process of reconstruction of the ROB had commenced over six years ago. Due to some technicalities, the reconstruction plan was not implemented.
