Jayakrishnan Vu
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar : A foot over-bridge planned by the municipal authorities at Jaydev Vihar area here with an investment of Rs 2 crore has been gathering dust even as four years have elapsed.
“Hundreds of women, children and elderly people are having a harrowing experience while trying to cross the busy stretch,” said Priyanka Swain, a student.
“Recently I had a close shave when a vehicle was about to hit me at the junction, where auto-rickshaws and other vehicles had covered a major portion of the road obstructing pedestrians’ movement,” she said.
Pedestrians are having nightmarish experience when they visit the stretch during peak hours as many motorists drive on wrong direction taking advantage of callous traffic police personnel deployed at the post, she added.
Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) had announced the construction of the foot over bridge (FOB) and the foundation stone for the facility was laid in August 2011 to mark the Local Self-governance Day.
The contract had been awarded to Ajanta Bisalbadri Media Initiative under PPP mode, but the work has been derailed due to operational and financial constraints, BMC sources revealed.
The work on steps of the FOB is underway, said some civic body officials.
Mayor Ananta Narayana Jena said, “Work is in full swing and we are putting all our efforts to complete the project soon.”
BMC is planning to construct more FOBs at Rama Devi Women’s University and Ashok Nagar in the city in coming days.
Urban planning expert Piyush Rout said the original design of the FOB has been changed to benefit people who frequent a nearby mall and posh hotels in the area.
“It should have been built near the junction. Who will walk 500 metres to scale a tall bridge which serves no purpose,” rued the locals. They said they would instead prefer to take the risk of crossing over the busy street.
Bridges should be built for the larger interests of the people, but it is unfortunate that in the city they are built for advertisement purposes, experts lamented.
In international cities like Moscow, hoardings and road-side advertisements which obstruct the vision of pedestrians are banned, said Piyush.
“If this is the performance indicator of city’s development plans, how it would carry out bigger projects under the Smart City plan,” he wondered.
