Bikram Chowk flyover gives harrowing time to commuters

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 30

Going to serve little purpose, the 1.3 km-long flyover project being constructed from Bikram Chowk to Gandhi Nagar Women College at a whopping cost of Rs 95 crore from tax payers’ money continue to give a harrowing time to the people in the city because of “ultra slow” pace of its construction.

“It must be going to be the eighth wonder and that’s why it is being constructed painstakingly,” fumed an angry motorcycle rider, who had a splash of muddy water on his clothes after a speeding car moved over a pool of rainwater accumulated on a temporary road constructed by the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA).

After hurling “choicest of abuses” on the driver of the speeding car, he trained guns on the ERA saying, “They have been constructing this flyover since 2013 and they are still nowhere near completion. I don’t know for how long they will hold the people hostage to this project.”

Prabhjeet Singh, a bank employee, who daily has to cross the “messed-up” stretch where the flyover is being constructed, said the people of Jammu needed a flyover from Bikram Chowk to Satwari to ease traffic congestion. “Take it from me, this flyover from Bikram Chowk to women college will not serve any purpose at all. I don’t know who conceived this project and why it is moving at a snail’s pace. It appears that the planners didn’t spare a single thought to ever-existing vehicular population of the city,” he added.

Prabhjeet Singh said it would have been much better had the government extended the flyover up to Satwari Chowk.

“Leave aside signboards of diversion, they have not deemed it apt to drain out stagnant water from a temporary stretch on which traffic has been diverted. The road hurriedly laid is slanting, has humps besides potholes and can result in mishaps,” said Ashish Kumar, who daily ferries children to an elite school in the area. “On windy days dirt makes it very difficult for the motorists to drive safely and children have to bear the brunt. Heavy equipment and dumpers used by the constructing agency are also driven rashly. They simply don’t care for the people,” he added.

An NGO has also taken a strong exception to the way the project is being executed. “Before starting the project, the ERA did not seek closure of the main Banihal Cart road, but now they are demanding that they stretch should be closed for traffic. People will suffer at the cost of inefficiency and lack of technical ability of the ERA engineers,” said NGO’s spokesperson.

Aftab Ahmed, a Jammu University student, demanded that the project should be extended up to Satwari before the agency starts working on its landing at the other end.

“At the moment the city has only one flyover, which was constructed way back in 1993-98. Due to big increase in number of vehicles, the existing road network in Jammu city is under huge pressure. We need more such flyovers. The government still has time to extend this one up to Satwari,” said Satish Gupta, Gandhi Nagar resident.

The project is likely to be completed by December, 2016. Jammu Director, ERA, Ravinder Kumar Raina refused to give any information whatsoever over the phone despite being reminded that it didn’t fall under the “classified” category.