24 yrs after IRDP plan, Old Bhandara Road widening work finally begins
| Date :14-Aug-2023 |
Staff Reporter
With 76th Independence Day round the corner, a sort of freedom was experienced by citizens on Old Bhandara Road, the widening work of which has formally begun. It was an excruciating wait of 24 years for the activists of Madhya Nagpur Vikas Aghadi, which undertook a prolonged and painstaking battle before the road widening began here. On Sunday, as the excavator dug-up the tar to pave way for the 60-feet concrete road, the people who had been waiting for the D-Day broke into celebrations. Given the history and dogged chase that the protagonists had to undertake for such a long period, getting to have a hassle-free movement on the stretch finally seemed to be a dream come true. The Old Bhandara Road was initially National Highway No 6, and it cut through the wholesale markets of the city. With the start of the road concretisation, a long-standing struggle of Madhya Vikas Aghadi has also come a full circle. About 24 years ago, the Integrated Road Development Programme (IRDP) was launched for widening of 45 important road stretches, which included the Old Bhandara Road. While 42 roads were widened in the city during the tenure of the then Municipal Commissioner T Chandrashekhar, only two stretches remained as they were since ages owing to presence of markets there and problems with land acquisition. That included Old Bhandara Road and Kelibagh Road. However, later, Kelibagh Road too was widened and concretised. The decision makers dithered to take up the work on the Old Bhandara Road due to high value assets located on the erstwhile national highway. One has to acknowledge the role of the Aghadi in keeping the pressure on the administrators and planners all these years.
Recalling the struggle, Bhushan Dadwe, social activist and General Secretary, Aghadi, said odds were stacked against the decision to widen the road to 60-feets from Mayo Hospital Square till Sunil Hotel. However we kept pressing the issue, took-up the matter with authorities and city leaders and finally our persistence has paid off. Seeing the start of actual work, that too 21-days after the big bang bhoomipujan by city leaders, gives a feeling of satisfaction as the wait for widening of Old Bhandara Road has been very very long. In fact, Dadwe said that the road was identified for widening to 60-feet way back in 1965 itself given the expanding market then and rush of visitors. But one does not know as to why it took so long for the widening work to start. In between Aghadi had also to mount a legal battle to force the hand of authorities who were just not ready to budge despite several representations and demand from social organisation seeking relief from daily snarls, recalled Dadwe. The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court in its order dated July 17, 2017, upheld the contention of Aghadi and directed authorities to forthwith start the widening work. However despite court order, the bureaucratic machinery worked at its own speed. Nearly 200 buildings are likely to be demolished to ensure widening of the road to 60-feet. Once the work is completed the road would provide smooth movement through the wholesale markets till Marwadi Square.
Himself a resident of Central Nagpur, Dadwe had seen how the situation had gone from bad to worse. Talking to ‘The Hitavada’, he said, despite the road tagged as National Highway, no efforts was made by officials to ensure it expansion and proper development of amenities with passage of time. The issue lingered on for long and finally as prices of land skyrocketed, the road widening work got stuck in red tape as question arose as to who will foot the bill for costly land acquisition. In between Union Minister Nitin Gadkari announced Rs. 100 crore for concretisation of 3 km patch of the Old Bhandara Road. However the land acquisition process got stuck in red tape prompting Dadwe along with Ravidra Paigwar, former Chairman of Standing Committee of NMC, to hold agitation to press for expansion of the clogged road. The struggle for widening of Old Bhandara Road showcases that citizens push definitely works. Now Deputy Chief Minister and Guardian Minister Devendra Fadnavis ensured release of funds from state Government to help beleaguered Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) to start land acquisition. So far 41 properties have been acquired and compensation of Rs. 23,92 crore has been disbursed. As per the plan, the road widening is going to be taken-up in phases due to densely populated area and ensure that market functioning is not hampered. The start has been made for 300 meters from May Hospital Square till Hansapuri Khadan area. Thereafter, the stretch till Ganjakhet would be taken-up for development and then on till Teen Naal Square and in final push the road till Sunil Hotel would be widened. While the first phase would not face much problem, however as the widening process moves into market area, several challenges would be needed to be overcome.