Built at the cost of Rs 18 crore, a Railway Over Bridge (RoB) near Aishbagh Stadium in Madhya Pradesh’s Capital city Bhopal has raised many eyebrows and became a meme material on social media raising safety concerns.
This RoB, which is nearing its completion after months of delays over many issues, is built to connect Mahamai Ka Bagh, Pushpa Nagar, and the station area to New Bhopal, providing smooth and hassle free movement to the people.
However, even before its launch, the bridge has become the talk of the town with the local population concerned over the safety of the motorists as the bridge has a 90 degree turn which could prove to be fatal for commuters.
This peculiar 90 degree angle of the bridge has also invited criticism from the Opposition party Congress which has termed it a ‘right angle Railway Over Bridge’.
Taking a jibe at union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Kerala Congress said, “Elite degign team under the leadership of Ashwini Vaishnaw has built an engineering marvel in Bhopal. A right angle Railway Over Bridge.”
“While ordinary engineers would have gone straight across the hypotenuse (√(3² + 4²) = 5), this team cleverly chose 3 + 4 = 7. Longer route, bigger budget, more chances to siphon off public money. True innovation,” it stated.
Soon after the bridge came into light, Madhya Pradesh Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Rakesh Singh stated that the technical report will be submitted by the team tomorrow, after which further directions will be given.
“The site inspection has been done by the team of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) regarding the railway overbridge (RoB) built in the Aishbagh area of the capital Bhopal. The technical report will be submitted by the team tomorrow, based on which further decisions and necessary action will be taken,” he said.
According to the reports, the authorities have no other option to build this RoB the other way as there was a lack of land and presence of a metro station nearby.
Meanwhile, social media has come up with fresh memes using the image of RoB. Some of them have related the design to Pythagoras while some are referring to this bridge to a game.
One user said, “Being from Bhopal is hard bro, we literally had to bend the bridge 90 degrees just to go viral.”
Another said, “Forget the Chenab Rail bridge, here is the real engineering masterpiece from Bhopal.”
The bridge has faced delays ever since its construction started in March 2023. Initially set for completion in 18 months, it is now nearing completion after over 36 months delayed by many factors including coordination between the PWD and the Railways.
