BANGALORE: Union Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa said on Saturday that the railways has a plan to construct over-bridges or underpasses at around 17,500 level-crossings across the country to avoid loss of life.Speaking to reporters at Cantonment Railway Station, Muniyappa said the decision was taken when Mamata Banerjee was minister for railways.“Many people have lost their lives at level-crossings at various places in the country. We consider human life as the most precious,” Muniyappa said.He said there were 32,500 level-crossings in the country and the railways had already constructed bridges at 15,000 level-crossings. “We will complete the construction of bridges at the remaining level-crossings by the end of 2014,” he said.Shortage of staffStating that the railways was planning to close a few level-crossings where the frequency of train movements is sparse, he said: “We will have discussions with state government officials concerned to identify such level-crossings and make arrangements to divert trains to other routes.”On the acute shortage of Group D employees, the minister said the railways would make arrangements to conduct a written test across the country in this regard.“The test will be conducted on the same day across the country. Candidates can write the exam in their respective languages. There will be no bias in selection of the candidates,” the Union minister added.Regarding the recent High Court directive to the railways to pay compensation for the lands acquired for laying goods track between Bangalore and Guntakal within seven days, he said the railways would obey the court order.
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