‘Bridge construction near Panchasheel sq may take 4 months to complete’

Staff Reporter

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to close down the road stretch between Panchasheel square to Jhansi Rani square for vehicular traffic for the next 4 months to take up construction of the bridge near Panchasheel square. The bridge was damaged due to floods the city witnessed on Saturday. Already facing hardships due to diversions for vehicular traffic, residents of Ramdaspeth and Dhantoli areas have to continue to brave the traffic

issue till completion of the bridge construction work. NHAI, on Wednesday, issued a press release stating that it will start construction of the damaged bridge. The bridge will remain closed for traffic for next 4 months. Currently, the traffic movement on this stretch has been banned completely. The road stretch on busy Wardha Road is covered with tin sheds from both sides.

According to Naresh Borkar, Executive Engineer, NHAI, “The authority will spend Rs 6 crore for construction of the bridge and it will take about 4 months. Till then traffic movement will be restricted on this patch of the road. After some time, we will try to allow light vehicles on the bridge from one side of the stretch.” The bridge was last repaired in 1974. No major repair work has been done since. The Hitavada recently raised the issue of poor condition of the bridge. The shop-owners near the bridge also registered complaints to Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and NHAI but all the efforts have been wasted without any fruitful result.

The recent flood in Naag River washed out the bridge on last Saturday and it also claimed one life. After that incident the traffic movement on that patch of Wardha Road is restricted and the residents and shopkeepers of Ramdaspeth and Dhantoli area is suffering a lot. The parallel bridge over the Naag River near University Library was also damaged one and a half years ago. The same patch is also closed for the traffic movement. The administration claimed that the bridge near Library will be finished within six months but it is still underway without considering the suffering of the commuters. The city is already struggling to manage heavy traffic jams in these major junctions and there is no respite for the citizens in the near future too.