Central Avenue to Pardi: Pain, Pain and pain

For how many days Nagpurians have to suffer from the mess that is created by Nagpur Metro with its unplanned construction that has dysfunctioned the road users. Treat the problem in such a way that the trouble would remain pending and people would get used to live with it without complaint, applies with all roads where Metro’s construction work is in progress. Instead of giving a deeper thought to what could have been done so that people would not suffer, Metro has totally ignored all the stakeholders. One will realise the sufferings, people are undergoing if one visits Central Avenue.

Sufferings start when commuter travels on Kingsway road. He or she felt relieved after journey begins at Ram Jhulla as it is a spacious road though a bit bumpy. Vehicles come down and reach the intersection near Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH). People coming from Motibag come from under the bridge, join the road, take a U-turn and approach Railway Station square by going wrong side. There is another problem being faced by the people.

Many vehicles, including ambulance, come out of IGGMCH and take wrong road for Ram jhulla or towards Motibag or towards Poddareshwar Ram Mandir or towards Mominpura, or towards Dosar Bhavan chowk. Of course people coming from the opposite direction on this road towards intersection don’t use their prudence and meet with accidents. There are several occasions when such minor or sometimes major accidents are witnessed on this intersection. Though, this spot has always been a bizarre spot, that does not mean Metro should not have planned their stretch as per the conditions. They are supposed to take care of the people using road below the Metro bridge.

It wants people to travel by Metro while those using roads would be left to their fate. Road comes from IGGMCH, Mominpura, from Ram jhulla, from Dosar bhavan square, from Motibag all join at this intersection. With sans signal and no application of mind, people seen coming from all the corners, going wherever and in whatever manner they want to. Private travel buses come from Ram jhulla take U-turn from the intersection to join the road that goes towards Poddareshwar Ram Mandir. Reason should be attributed to authority. One can not ignore the people’s culture but it is the responsibility of authority to make people become habitual of certain things.

The conscious effort by the authorities are missing. They are doing it not only in haphazard manner but ruthlessly. Take for example, there is old Chandralok building, known to everybody. It is housed with several commercial establishments. The Metro station that is coming up has completely blocked the face of this building which could have been avoided. It has given similar treatment to the buildings stood on the other side of the road. Another station on the stretch that starts from IGGMCH and reaches railway crossing near Pardi square, being set up just before Agrasen chowk though has little damage to the buildings on the road, the delay in its construction creating so much trouble.

This station becomes a reason of traffic mess that is being experienced by the people at Agrasen square. On few patches of the road there is some good space and people enjoy driving and they do not have to jostle. Of course, this happiness of having breathing space does not last for long as people come across the narrowing of the road. From Gandhi Putla the road gets thinner. The station immediately after the square is again a big trouble. It has almost touched the buildings on the road. It is so close that people in the building can easily do mischievous act with the Metro commuters standing inside station. Commuters coming from Itwari High School chowk towards Gandhi Putla chowk always face trouble as vehicles are caught under the station and vehicles try to save themselves from nudging. One basic problem of these stations would be faced by the people during rains.

Two-wheelers will take shelter under the station to save themselves from getting wet becoming obstacle for the other vehicles moving forward. Metro authorities have ignored one particular issue that would be faced by the people near its station. Stairs of the station have descended very close to the road. The autorickshaws will stand near it making the place a bit crowded. People coming down the stairs would add to the thickness of traffic moving below. As of now, it looks like ‘Mazi Metro’ will hover over the city with pride even as people will grapple with their problems below.