Chandigarh, Nov. 24 -- Seven years after the project was first proposed, residents of Baltana and neighbouring areas are finally set to get relief from the chronic traffic congestion at the Raipur Kalan-Baltana railway crossing as the UT administration has approved the release of Rs.6.4 crore to the Railways for the construction of a road underbridge (RUB). Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria has cleared 50% of the UT's share toward the Rs.12.81-crore project, a joint venture between the Railways and the UT. The RUB on the Chandigarh-Ambala rail route is expected to ease commuting for residents of Raipur Kalan, Vikas Nagar, Baltana, Zirakpur, Dhakoli, Panchkula, Mauli Jagran and nearby areas. Officials said the land acquisition process, which was one of the main reasons behind the delay, has been completed. The UT was to acquire 5 kanal and 19 marla land for this project. In July, the UT administration had issued a notification for acquiring 0.74 acres in Raipur Kalan. According to the social impact assessment report, the acquisition did not displace any residents though twofamilies lost their agricultural land. A senior UT official said, "With the funds now approved, the Railways will begin the tendering process. We expect the work to be allotted in January and the project to be completed in eight months." Usha Rani, councillor from Harmilap Nagar, said, "It's good that the project is finally moving toward completion after years of delay. The project report had been prepared in 2017 and the RUB was a long-standing demand of the locals." When the project was first sanctioned in 2021-22, the cost was estimated to be Rs.7.99 crore - UT's share Rs.4 crore and Railways' share Rs.3.99 crore. But the work remained stalled for three to four years due to land acquisition delays and the UT's failure to deposit funds, which caused theproject cost to escalate to Rs.12.81 crore. In light of the revised estimate, Railway authorities requested the UT administration to deposit 50% of the updated cost, which is...