Raiganj civic body blames Rlys for failing to build flyover

Raiganj: Around two years have passed since the Railway authorities had assured to construct a flyover on the Railway level crossing in Raiganj town of North Dinajpur district to ease traffic woes. However, it is yet to see the light of day.

On the other hand, the traffic congestion in the town is getting worse by the day. The authorities of Raiganj Municipality blamed the Railway crossing and the lackadaisical attitude of the Railways for this. They claimed that a memorandum was sent to the Railway authorities to construct a flyover on the east side railgate in Raiganj town. However, there has been no response since.

Sandip Biswas, the chairperson of the board of administrators of Raiganj Municipality said: “There are two Railway level crossings in our Raiganj town.

One was to the east and another to the west side of the town. Rail gates are closed more than 15 times everyday, causing a huge traffic congestion on the road. Realising the difficulties of the residents, we urged the Railway authorities to construct a flyover.

There was no available space for the construction of a flyover on the west side level crossing, so we wanted the Railway authorities to construct the same on the level crossing of the east side.”

The proposal for the construction of this flyover on the east side level crossing was submitted to the Divisional Railway Manager of NF Railway Katihar Division in 2022.

“Suddenly we found some BJP members, in the face of Parliamentary election, have started a movement for this flyover. It is nothing but a political stunt of the BJP.

The BJP instead should start a movement against Railway authorities for not constructing the flyover in Raiganj,” added Biswas. Basudeb Sarkar, the president of North Dinajpur BJP committee alleged: “We want the flyover on the west side level crossing. The work is delayed because of the absence of any objection from the state government.”