Mangaluru: Railway department officials after visiting the Mahakalipadpu railway crossing spot estimated  a budget of Rs. 24 crore to erect an underpass for the same. This visit came after protracted correspondence between the MCC and the state government on the subject,  according to information provided by MLA, J R Lobo on Monday at a public plea hearing program held for three wards (Mangaladevi, Hoige Bazar, Bolara) here at Cassia church hall.

The focus towards towards these infrastructural necessities, at Mahakalipadpu and Pandeshwar was drawn by the locals who bear the brunt of  the stalled traffic  caused by the closure of the railway the gates  for the passage of trains.

The MCC has already paid centage charges of Rs. 13 lakhs to the state government. Since the state government has to bear half of the charges of the underpass at a railway crossing, the corporation was in touch with the government. He said they are hopeful of getting the fund released for the work. Lobo expressed the work would remain as a dream, had the state does not provide the fund.

At Pandeshwar, the problem could not be fixed at this juncture. He said that if the station at Kankanady was given a facelift by the central government the traffic of the goods could be stopped from passing Pandeshwar. This would end the problems.

Lobo expressed today’s many complaints brought to his notice by the people belong to MCC. The problems were in connection drainage and roads. He promised the people that he would visit places attached with complaints with the MCC commissioner in the next week and solution would be delivered in few days. “No applications would be junked as his team processes all the applications pertaining to various departments and feed updates of status record to the aggrieved residents.

The officials from revenue, town planning, environment, police and others gathered at the place to hear the pleas of the people directly. People were seen queuing up to file complaints with the concerned department.