Land acquisition for constructing Shivajinagar underpass begins

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The process of land acquisition for the construction of an underpass at Shivajinagar, to get rid of the persistent issue of traffic congestion, is nearing completion, as 80 per cent of the land required for the underpass is now available.

A total of 15 property owners willingly handed over their possession. The anti-encroachment squad of the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) helped the residents in vacating their possession on Friday. Now, the public works department (PWD) and the Department of Railways (DoR) will oversee the tender process in this regard soon.

The properties situated in land bearing Gut Number 124/2 and 131 were acquired for the underpass. The special land acquisition office released a compensation of Rs 6.97 crore to the property owners. After marking of the properties to be acquired, the CSMC initiated the process of taking possession of the land. The encroachment squad reached the spot in the morning today. The team efficiently cleared the properties which were existing on the left side of the road leading from Deolai Chowk to the Railway Gate. Later on, the possession was handed over in the presence of the special land acquisition officer Vishwanath Dahe.

It may be noted that the PWD will invite a separate tender for the construction of an underpass on the land barring the land owned by the DoR. The latter has approved the design of the underpass, it is learnt.

The construction of the underpass aims to alleviate the traffic congestion and frequent closures of the Shivajinagar railway gate. This is stressful for the vehicle owners. The closure of the gate by DoR leads to long queues of vehicles waiting for half an hour to around one hour on both sides of the gate. The ambulance has to face hardship and struggle to find a way to proceed further. The situation worsens during monsoon season. Hence the construction of the underpass is expected to provide relief from traffic jams and facilitate smoother transportation for citizens.