Thrissur: Putting an end to a two-decade wait, a rail-over-bridge (ROB) at Guruvayur, one of the busiest Hindu pilgrimage centres in South India, will be opened on November 14.

Guruvayur MLA N K Akbar has announced that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the ROB at 7 pm function that will be presided over by Public Works Minister P A Muhammad Riyas.

Hurdles, controversies
Although the demand for an ROB in Guruvayur is at least two decades old, the first allocation came only in 2016 when Rs 30 crore was approved in the state budget. Since then the project has hit several hurdles, starting with the design. Initially, the ROB was supposed to land just a few metres from the Manjulaal at a junction on the eastern side of the Sree Krishna Temple where four major roads converged.

But devotees objected and they were joined by religious organisations and merchants. After a series of debates, the design was reworked and approved.

The next issue was land acquisition. Anupama, who was the district collector of Thrissur, was assigned to acquire the land required for constructing the ROB and it was decided to adopt the same method undertaken for Kochi Metro. A price of Rs 12 lakh per cent was fixed and the majority of the land owner agreed.

The Road and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK), the agency entrusted with the construction, completed the survey for acquisition in November 2017. But half a dozen land owners approached the Kerala High Court objecting to the acquisition and the project was delayed by two more years.

Work begins, controversies too
After land acquisition, the construction began in January 2021. The piling work had started in December. But the public was unhappy as the railway crossing had to be opened and shut about 30 times a day. The temple town witnessed a series of protests from opposition parties, mainly the BJP and its affiliated organisations, demanding speedy completion of the work.

But another issue brought the work to a standstill. This was a delay in the installation of a superstructure girder above the railway track. The ruling party claimed that 90 per cent of the work was complete and the rest would be done once the girder was fixed. They blamed the central government and claimed that the girder was constructed at a railway facility in Trichy and the delay in installation was politically motivated.

Suresh Gopi enters
Meanwhile, during a visit to the Guruvayur Temple, BJP’s actor-politician Suresh Gopi criticised the Kerala government by claiming the delay in ROB work was due to the incomplete work on the approach roads, which he said was the state government's issue.

Gopi claimed the railway works were expedited following his intervention. He also warned the LDF representatives to stop spreading lies about the Centre and challenged them to a debate on the matter. While Gopi’s statements became a huge hit among his party workers, the LDF wasn't pleased.

Guruvayur MLA Akbar compared Gopi to a C-grade movie artist. He said that apart from installing the girder, which was delayed by more than three months, the railway authorities had no bearing on the ROB work. He claimed that the state government and LDF MPs got the railways to expedite the girder installation.

The ROB
Of the ten ROB projects in Kerala, under KIIFB, Guruvayur is the first to be completed. A total of 22 girders and 5 spans were used for the construction of the ROB, which has a total length of 517.32 metres and a width of 10.15 metres. A footpath of 1.5 metres was prepared as per BMBC standards, the authorities have claimed. The old road will be used as a four-metre-wide service road and an open gym will be set up under the over-bridge using MLA funds, the authorities have said.