Citizens-protest forces redesign of Dighori flyover near Telephone Nagar Square

 

 

 

City’s ambitious Indora–Dighori flyover project has been struck by yet another planning fiasco. Barely months after the landing of the Sadar flyover had to be redesigned due to flawed execution, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has once again been forced to alter the alignment, this time at the Dighori end of the structure near Telephone Nagar on Umred Road. The controversy erupted after residents of Telephone Nagar raised strong objections to the flyover’s landing alignment. Once the girders were launched, it became evident that the structure would choke the crucial Telephone Nagar Square, a junction vital for traffic movement. Public protests and mounting pressure compelled NHAI to halt the work and initiate a redesign.

 

The corrective exercise may come at a steep cost. According to officials, NHAI may be required to dismantle girders already launched, as well as reconstruct certain pillars on which these girders currently rest. The burden of these additional expenses remains uncertain, with no clarity on whether the contractor, the State Government, or the central agency will absorb the losses caused by defective planning. Confirming the development, Chandrakant Sinha, General Manager (Technical) and Project Director, NHAI, Nagpur Region, stated that the agency is now working on realigning the landing to address citizens’ concerns. “We are redesigning the portion to ensure smooth connectivity. The project remains on track for completion by March 2026,” he said.

 

The Indora–Dighori flyover scheme is one of the largest infrastructure undertakings in the city, comprising two elevated corridors, one stretching from Pachpaoli to Reshimbag Square and the other from Bhande Plot Square to Telephone Nagar Square. The whole project was earlier scheduled for completion by June 2026, but officials claim accelerated progress will bring the deadline forward by three months. At present, girders have been launched from Telephone Nagar Square up to Shitala Mata Square, along with those above the existing Dighori flyover on the Inner Ring Road. Construction of up and down ramps after Dighori Square, towards Tajbagh, has not yet begun. Simultaneously, girder installation near Shitala Mata Square is underway.

 

While the Dighori end has been mired in controversy, the second corridor from Reshimbag to Pachpaoli has advanced at a steady pace. The major bottleneck persists due to the construction of two Contd from page 1 Railway overbridges at Pachpaoli. These remain pending, awaiting final clearance from railway authorities to demolish the old structures and begin new works. At the other end, the work on landing towards Bhande Plot square is still pending. The redesign at Dighori has raised serious concerns about the quality of planning and foresight applied to city’s flyover projects. With pillars and girders already in place, large-scale rework now appears inevitable. For the public, the disruption adds to prolonged traffic snarls and delays in promised relief from congestion. For the authorities, it underlines a recurring pattern of costly misjudgments that undermine confidence in the city’s infrastructure management.