EXPRESSING ANGER: People staging a rail roko in Hubli on Friday demanding construction of railway overbridge near V.S. Pillay School.

HUBLI: The death of an SSLC student who was run over by a goods train on Thursday has once again given momentum to the long pending demand of constructing a railway overbridge or an underbridge near Pillay School.

On Friday, while the few parents accompanied by their children and members of Karnataka Youth Federation staged a rail roko to press for the demand, MP from Dharwad North Pralhad Joshi held a meeting with the senior officials of railway, municipal corporation and Hubli-Dharwad Urban Development Authority on the issue.

The MP who raised the issue twice before, and had even conducted a spot visit along with railway officials a few months back, said he would arrange for the required assistance from the Government and sought to know how much the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) and the Hubli-Dharwad Urban Development Authority(HDUDA) would be able to contribute to the project.

Divisional Railway Manager of Hubli Division Rakesh Vatash, Commissioner of HDMC P. Manivannan took part in the meeting and later visited the spot where the accident occurred on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters at the accident spot, Mr. Joshi said there were two proposals under consideration. One was to construct a railway under bridge at a cost of around Rs. 2.5 crore and the other was a railway overbridge at a cost of Rs. 6 crore.

"According to the railway authorities, construction of railway underbridge was difficult due to technical reasons and they were in favour of an overbridge. Now it has to be seen how much funds the HDMC and HDUDA would be able to mobilise for the project. I have already spoken to Revenue Minister Jagadish Shettar in this regard and he has assured to get the remaining funds required for the project," Mr. Joshi said.

As a temporary measure, steps would be taken to make the already existing underpass near Lokappana Hakkala functional so that the children can cross the track safely, he said.

Earlier, members of Karnataka Youth Federation, some parents and their children stopped a goods train near the V.S. Pillay School demanding construction of railway under or overbridge.

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