Chandigarh, Mar 2 (PTI) An NOC for a railway overbridge in Ludhiana was issued in November last year, PWD minister Harbhajan Singh said on Sunday, a day after Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu accused the Punjab government of denying the key document.

The Union Minister of State for Railways had on Saturday accused the AAP government of delaying the construction of a crucial railway overbridge, or ROB, at the Doraha-Sahnewal main line in Ludhiana.

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Bittu claimed that the ROB was to be built by the railways with an outlay of Rs 70.56 crore, but the state government withheld a no-objection certificate to the project.

Responding to the accusation, Harbhajan Singh said the requisite NOC was issued on November 11, 2024.

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He said the ROB formed part of an agreement between concessionaire Atlanta Tollways and the Punjab government.

Though all other project components were completed, the ROB could not be due to a change in the railways' development plans, he claimed.

The change led to the concessionaire's inability to complete the ROB, resulting in the contract's termination on August 5, 2021, the state minister said.

Harbhajan Singh also said the concessionaire has since moved to arbitration, challenging the contract termination and citing the increase in the ROB span on account of the railways' development plans as the primary reason for non-completion.

The concessionaire had already executed certain works of the ROB as per the previously approved general arrangement drawing (GAD) and raised a claim of Rs 3.28 crore for the executed works.

Due to the non-completion of the ROB, the concessionaire also raised a claim of Rs 35.51 lakh with the railway authorities as plant and equipment charges, said Singh.

The PSW minister said the railways submitted a revised GAD for approval.

Singh emphasised that as a Union minister, Bittu should be well aware that no government can accept work carried out as per earlier approved drawings.

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