The ongoing construction of a fly-over by MahaRail at Marwadi Square, near Itwari Railway Station, has turned one of East Nagpur’s busiest and oldest commercial stretches into a daily traffic hazard for commuters. For over a year, the main road from Itwari Station to Marwadi square and Maskasath to Fish Market has been reduced to half due to slow pace of construction.

 

The stretch is lined with half-complete pillars, barricaded tin sheets, broken paver blocks and heaps of construction debris. There is hardly any space left for vehicles to neogitate as very narrow stretch has increased chances of crashes. Cars, e-rickshaws, autos and two-wheelers are forced to squeeze through a narrow, dusty patch right besides the under-construction pillars. ‘It is very difficult to drive here, said Surendra Kumar, a regular commuter on the route. There is always heavy traffic during peak time on the stretch and the broken road and littie space to move makes riding always a risky affair.

 

Even a small error can lead to a major mishap’ said an auto driver who ferries passengers from Itwari station daly. During peak hours, the traffic comes to a complete standstill that puts citizens in a tight spot. Daily traffic jam is now a common sight and lack of traffic regulation by authorities makes the situation worse. Vehicles from all sides enter the broken, uneven junction at once, creating a deadlock. There are wholesale shops, markets and godowns all around, so heavy trucks, handcarts and loading autos keep coming all day. Even a single heavy vehicle is enough to block the whole road, with queues stretching up to half a kilometre.

 

To make matters worse, footpaths on both sides are fully occupied by vendors, hawkers and illegally parked vehicles, and anti-encroachment drive seems to given it a miss and concentrating totally on Sitabuldi and Mahal area on full time basis. ‘It is very difficult for us to walk on footpath on both sides of the road and we have to walk on the main road with our luggage which may cause accident anytime’ said a passenger coming out of the station. Locals said despite repeated complaints, traffic police and NMC act only once in a while, and encroachments return within hours. People are now demanding that the fly-over work be completed fast and the road be cleared permanently for smooth movement of traffic so that order can be resotred on the busy market stretch.