Perfunctory solution may lead to chaos at Ridge Road near Wanjari Nagar bridge
   Date :18-Jan-2021

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By Vikas Vaidya ;
 
Wanjari Nagar bridge that slopes down at Ridge Road is on the verge of opening. But in a haste to open it, the authorities forgot to notice a flaw that would lead to chaos at the junction where the bridge meets Ridge road. When people from Wanjari Nagar bridge will reach the Ridge Road, they may have to navigate their way with the traffic coming from T B Square. Nobody had thought about the sudden meeting of vehicles coming from bridge and those approaching from T B Road Square.
 

Wanjari Nagar bridge slop 
 The Wanjari Nagar bridge slopes down at Ridge Road.
(Pic by Satish Raut)
 
‘The Hitavada’ brought the problem to the notice of Public Works Department (PWD) that is constructing the bridge. The solution, the PWD has find out to prevent the chaos will hardly address the problem. PWD will be constructing speedbreakers on the bridge as well as on Ridge Road, which is a perfunctory kind of solution. In fact, there are chances that the speedy vehicles may hit the speedbreakers leading to accidents. The part of Ridge Road from Railway Men’s School to T B Ward Square has never witnessed an accident because of the manner it was arranged. With the opening of the bridge, the road too is likely to witness mishaps. The purpose behind the construction of this bridge was to give a relief to the traffic coming from South Nagpur. In the present situation, the traffic has to go through a narrow road between the railway quarters and Wanjari Nagar that joins TB Ward Square. The bridge would surely save the time and energy of the commuters if the confusion among the minds of commuters will be cleared before the bridge gets opened for the public.
 
The width of the bridge is almost double than Ridge Road that reaches Ajni bridge. People from Wanjari Nagar bridge would come down a little faster because of its slope and broadness. Since everybody would be in a hurry to reach destination, the commuters coming from the TB Ward Square will face the chaos at the junction. The divider near Railway Men’s School would be broken from where people coming from Ajni bridge also will have an access to bridge to go towards Wanjari Nagar Water tank. It means bridge will be used by people for going to and fro. Considering the narrowness of the Ridge Road, erecting traffic signal is not possible. Sans traffic signal, people will move as per their convenience, traffic from both directions will converge at Ridge Road and jostle to find space. PWD, after noticing the problem, met Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari to get the solution. According to sources, Gadkari has asked the department to consult Nagpur Municipal Corporation to get Ridge Road widened.
 
Though road widening is a good solution, it has its own issues like acquiring land from railway, demolishing quarters, there are two schools namely Kendriya Vidyalaya, Ajni; Railway Men’s School whose premises need to be acquired, the old railway reservation system office to be demolished. The process itself will take two more years. But, the authorities want the bridge to be open as soon as possible even it creates traffic problems. It means it will be opened for the public use without widening the road paving way for the public to suffer from the chaos that is likely to take place at the junction. When contacted V D Sardeshmukh, Superintendent Engineer of PWD said, “We have planned to construct speedbreakers on bridge and Ridge Road.
 
These speedbreakers would compel the vehicles to slow down at the junction during that time vehicles would find their ways.” In Chandrapur, near Warora Naka similar problem was surfaced and there too the speedbreakers were constructed. Vehicles coming from bridge used to hit the speedbreakers and accidents occurred. Same problem can be experienced at Ridge Road too. On the Ridge Road, one more issue can trouble the commuters that is of black spot. There is a property of railway near the bridge that has come almost on the road, so people coming from TB Ward Square may not be able to see the vehicles coming from the bridge.
 
It may confuse them leading to accidents. Sardeshmukh has taken his efforts. He had a talk with Vikram Sali, earlier Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) who had visited the site. But, he got transferred to Amravati and Sarang Awad came in his place. No discussion was held with Awad related to this problem. Sudhakar Kohale, former MLA in whose regime the bhoomipujan for the bridge was performed, too, had pointed out this problem but his submission was ignored. According to Vijay Chutele, the Corporator of this area, it was told then that the Ridge Road would be widened and signal would be erected simultaneously with the construction of bridge. It has not happened so far.