Commuting from Liberty Theatre to Nelson Sq becomes risky
| Date :28-May-2019 |
Water-logging is the usual picture on the stretch as pipelines are damaged by the construction work spreading water everywhere. This road turns left towards Gaddigodam Square.
By Vikas Vaidya:
When one goes on website of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), one comes across ‘Launch of Sukhad Yatra and photos’. After clicking the link, a message becomes visible. It says, ‘photos are not available. Even NHAI does not have photos of roads constructed by it, to show that can give a feel of happy journey, which is evident from the roads it has constructed or constructing in Nagpur and around. Want to experience?
Half road is concretised out of which iron rods protruded are visible. Many times they damage tyres of vehicles, bringing traffic on this narrow road to a standstill. (Pics by Anil Futane)
Go on the stretch of Liberty Theatre to Nelson’s Square, near Regional Mental Hospital where NHAI is constructing a fly-over and you will get the feel of Dukhad Yatra (sad journey). Right from the Square near Liberty Theatre upto the Nelson’s Square one has to search where the road is. One compels to say the condition of the village footpaths is better. The road in front of Liberty Theatre looks like a skeleton as if some people excavated it and left to its fate. Just move ahead and one would face one more trouble. Due to construction of bridge, the road has become narrow and people have occupied the road by moving their establishment ahead.
This has made the road thinner further. To add to the woes of people, half part of whatever road left is concretised by the authorities, due to which vehicles struggle to move as they have to cautious of not hitting the upper layer of the road. The iron rods protruding out of concretised part of the road causing damages to tyres of the vehicles. Everyday 2 to 3 vehicles get damaged due to these iron rods. The damaged vehicles suddenly stop in the middle of the road bringing traffic to a half for some time. There is a petrol pump and it leads to chaos when vehicles from road enter into the premises to fill up the fuel and come out on the road. A lot of building material including bricks, stones lying in a scattered position on the roadside is visible that adds to the problems of commuters.
The mirror image of the road near Liberty Theatre can be observed at Coffee House Square on the path that joins from Sarafa Chambers. Vehicles literally move on the stony street. One may get to see a lot of non-potable water being released by the hoteliers and other shop-owners on the road that goes towards Residency Road. The heap of crushed stones on the same turning has become an obstacle for the commuters and now the road no more is in use. Because of narrowing of the road the commuters have to jostle to move ahead. There are some link roads on this stretch like one is in front of Raj Bhavan, other is near PWD office, near Achraj Towers, near new office of Commissioner of Police, near Heritage Hotel. With roads have become thinner, one can understand that traffic signals would have made the matter worst but it has disrupted the traffic.
Taking undue advantage of non-existence of traffic signals, people are moving on the roads as per their whims and fancies. It is resulting not only into traffic congestion but also causing the accidents. People are parking their vehicles in the middle of the road, blocking whatever path is available for the vehicles. This is another such problem. There are several patches on this stretch where one would come across the problem of water-logging. Authorities claim the water is being released by the roadside vendors or shop-owners while people argue that the water comes out because construction work damages the water pipelines. Whatever be the reason, commuter is the ultimate sufferer.
When moving on this stretch, one would see paver blocks, big stones, building material lying along roadside. This particular neglect always leads to frequent minor accidents. People meet with the accidents either by hitting the material or hitting themselves. These accidents many times lead to quarrels. It is being assured by the authorities, they may get relief from pain once the bridge is completed. Everybody asks question for how many days they have to suffer. People release water and park vehicles on roads Admitting the issue of bad condition of road Chandrashekhar M, Regional Officer of NHAI said, “Apart from the bad road condition there are some other issues need to be addressed. People along roadside release the non-potable water on the road creating obstacles to vehicles. Secondly, parking the vehicles as per their whims and fancies can not be tolerated. This project is being brought to ease the traffic on this stretch which is always chaotic.
In such projects people’s participation is equally important. Everything will be smoother by the end of two months, that is what I can assure.” Construction is damaging pipelines: Adv Firdous Mirza Contrary to what Chandrashekhar claimed, Adv Firdous Mirza, a well-known High Court lawyer whose office is on Mount Road, said, “Why establishments and shop-owners would release water on road. This is absolutely false. In fact the construction work is being done in a haphazard manner because of which water pipelines are getting damaged.
The water daily flows all over. It also gets logged at all over Mount Road, making people difficult to work. Mount Road and the one that goes towards Gaddigodam are the important link roads but people are not able to use those.” Adv Mirza further pointed out, “As far as parking is concerned, since the roads have been dug in the middle so people don’t have an option than to park their vehicles wherever they get good places.” Adv Mirza resides in Mangalwari and his office is at five minutes distance from home. Now, for the last so many months it takes Adv Mirza 20 minutes to reach office. Fed up with the problem, he has decided to shift the office. Barring the old establishments, other peosple are making up their minds to shift somewhere else.