- Smart road is 80 feet in the morning, 20 feet in the evening, vehicles crawl
- Road built two months ago, Municipal Corporation not able to get encroachments removed
Venkat Vijay, Bhopal
To deal with the daily traffic jam in Karond area of Narela assembly, PWD had constructed a flyover on the railway line between DIG Bungalow intersection and Karond intersection and also built a CC road about 80 feet wide at a cost of crores of rupees, but due to encroachment it remains closed. Many problems remain the same along with jams on the road every hour.
In about a kilometer stretch from Mandi Gate to Karond intersection, the 80 feet smart road visible in the morning reduces to 20 feet in the evening. There was so much encroachment on Smart Road by vendors selling vegetables and vehicles parking that in the evening, traffic jams started for hours. Due to this, not only the residents but also the drivers are troubled. The Municipal Corporation, with the cooperation of the Madhya Pradesh government, built a smart road of about 1.2 km long from Mandi Gate of Karond to the intersection at a cost of Rs 10 crore. But instead of traffic moving on it, the road is being used for parking, carts and storing goods of shops. Even residents on both sides have started keeping their household goods, vehicles etc. on the road. This Smart road is proving to be only in name. People use this road to travel to Berasia and Sironj via Lambakheda. But the biggest problem that drivers face is when shopkeepers have illegally kept goods outside on the road, parking and vegetables are surrounded by hand-hawkers. Shopkeepers keep their goods on the service road only. There is a service road 1 feet above the smart road, due to which customers and shopkeepers are not able to drive up. For this reason the road is being used as parking. Due to this, the commuters are facing problems.
Parking is being done on the road itself
Arun Upadhyay, a resident of Karond Housing Board Colony, said that both sides of the smart road costing Rs. 10 crore and inside the road are being used as vehicle parking for local people, customers and shopkeepers in the evening, due to which not even half the width of the road is saved. Due to which about 3 lakh people, including residents of more than 70 colonies of Karond area, coming from Bhopal Talkies, DIG Bungalow, Qazi Camp etc. and those coming from Berasia, Sironj, Vidisha have to face traffic jams every day.
Occupation of carts on the middle road
Moin Khan, a resident of Karond, said that the middle of the road is occupied by shopkeepers, customers and cart vendors. Due to this, pedestrians traveling in the evening suffer. We complained about this problem several times to the concerned corporation officials and the police station, but no action was taken by those responsible. The road built at a cost of Rs 10 crore has many flaws, due to which every day 3 lakh people passing through this route get stuck in traffic and get delayed in reaching their destination. The paver blocks fixed for parking above the road have also started breaking.
This is a smart road
– The length of the smart road from Karond Square to Karond Mandi Gate to the bridge connecting Arif Nagar to the over bridge is 1.20 kilometers.
– This PWD road has been constructed by TV Sheparsh Construction Limited Company.
– The estimated cost of smart road construction work is Rs 10 crore.
– The four-lane road has a central verge, duct, footpath and street light.
Complaints have been received about encroachment by hand carts and other vehicle drivers and shopkeepers on the smart road from Karond intersection to Mandi Gate. We have sent them a notice. The Municipal Corporation will soon take strict action to remove encroachments here.
– Prem Shankar Shukla, PRO,
Nagar Nigam Bhopal
