Maha Metro responds to ‘The Hitavada Campaign’
| Date :06-Jun-2019 |
Staff Reporter:
The following is the ad verbatim response of Maha Metro to ‘The Hitavada’ campaign about the inconvenience caused to the people on account of Metro Rail: “There have been a series of news reports in ‘The Hitavada’ related to Maha Metro Nagpur project. The stories speak about alleged huge inconvenience caused to public, because of ongoing project work. Maha Metro rebuts all claims made in the news reports. “Maha Metro lists the points raised in your newspaper and its response to the claims: “The clipping on ‘Really beyond objections, really to no avail?’ (2nd June) speaks about temples and statues being neglected at the cost of Metro project. The report speaks about statues of Jhansi Rani Laxmibai and Mahatma Gandhi.
Maha Metro wishes to highlight the fact that the two statues were relocated during construction of flyover more than 15 years back. Maha Metro, as an organisation did not even exist then. As regards the Lord Hanumanji Temple at Ajni Square being dwarfed compared to Metro Station there, we can hardly do anything about it. “Apprehensions have been raised about distance between station building and residential apartments, in the story with headline -- ‘Central Avenue to Pardi: Pain, Pain and Pain’, in newspaper dated 28th May 2019. Contrary to claims that station building has been constructed very close to Chandralok Building (Central Avenue), Maha Metro wishes to clarify that sufficient gap has been maintained between the two. Moreover, entry to the building is from other side -- on the road that connects Central Avenue and Mominpura and hence claims that the residents’ entry has been blocked, does not hold steam here.
Metro alignment and station are actually on the rear side of the upper storey of the apartment of this building. Similarly, frontage of the shops in building facing Central Avenue are covered and entry to these shops is free and not blocked. Interestingly, the report refers to problems faced by only two buildings in the entire 40 km Metro stretch. More importantly, one needs to understand the dynamics of a Metro project. Many factors like road width, its curvature, density have to be taken into consideration and Metro routes are planned accordingly, for the overall good... “The newspaper has carried its campaign under the headline ‘For how long has one to wait for tomorrow’s gain?’ (31st May) and ‘Obnoxious Impact’ (30th May). The news mentions the concern of residents living along the alignment. While work on the Metro project was launched and even before that, Maha Metro has been consistently in touch with residents living along its alignment and has sincerely addressed their concerns.
In case of Udayan Apartment, which is located adjacent to Ujwal Nagar Metro Station, proper distance between the residential building and the station has been maintained. In fact, Metro has made suitable changes to its station design to address concerns of the residents there. Work on Ujwal Nagar Metro Station could be started only because of the co-operation extended to us by residents there. Not only the station design, but also the design related to the underpass in the vicinity was changed after residents there sought amendments in the same. This was done to ensure that the residents there are not put to any inconvenience. The claims made by you are far from reality.
“Claims have also been made about congestion on Central Avenue. In fact, out of 6 km stretch for which work has been undertaken on Central Avenue, barricades along 4 km have already been removed. And that’s not all. The road has been tarred and widened to ensure rider’s comfort. The increased road width would also ensure lesser congestion on the road in the future. Removing of barricades and tarring, asphalting of road has also been done on other roads along Metro alignment like Wardha Road and Hingna Road. “While undertaking development work across the city, Maha Metro had deployed Traffic Marshals at all places, to avoid traffic woes.
The traffic marshals co-ordinated traffic police to ensure smooth flow of traffic. Similarly Quick Response Team (QRT) has been enacted to respond to emergent situations. In fact, setting up of QRT is first example of its kind in metro project across the India. We also undertook safety campaign to drive home the message of road safety. The width of the roads after the project work was executed has increased as compared to the situation when work was being executed.”