Central Railway plans to build ROB for Diva residents

Mumbai: The railway has approved the plan to build a road over-bridge at the site amid residents’ demand for it and the closure of the Diva level crossing (LC). Over 100 mishaps occurred at the LC last year. In 2013, the Central Railway (CR) proposed a road over bridge (ROB) near Diva station to provide local residents a safer passage and prevent train delays that cause inconvenience to thousands of commuters every day.

A resident of Diva west and general secretary of Diva Railway Pravasi Sangathan (DRPS), Shravani Gawade said that the ROB had been sanctioned worth Rs 40 crore for many years. But hadnot been built due to the lethargic attitude of Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) and CR. The absence of the ROB leads to 10 to 15 accidents in a month.

Ms Gawade said that the ROB is need of the hour to save many lives from the danger at Diva station. “We demand that the ROB should be constructed within this year only,” she added.

Pratik Jadhav, a railway commuter, said that the ROB must be constructed at level crossing (LC) gate so that the passengers should not be affected due to opening and closing of LC gate.   

President of DRPS and resident of Diva west, Advocate Adesh Bhagat said, “We have been demanding from a decade to close down the LC gate and construct the ROB to connect the west to east. But the TMC and CR have turned deaf ears to our demands.”      

Meanwhile, the CR officials said that the design of the ROB have been approved by the construction department in January. The project will be built on the cost sharing between TMC and CR.