Civic body tinkers with design of roundabouts, locals sulk

Ramkrishan Upadhyay
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 17  

The decision  of the city Municipal Corporation  to  change the  design  of roundabouts has  sparked a controversy.

 While the  MC  has  made  a deep cut in two  roundabouts, which is almost two-metre wide and  one-metre deep, to make way for road gullies, it has not gone  down well  with residents, who have termed  it interference  with the  original character  of the city.

RK Garg, a social activist, said playing with the original  design of the rotary in Chandigarh was never heard of earlier.

He said while it was a clear case of violation of the basic character  of the city, it would also  pose a threat  to the safety of commuters.

Sources  said the MC  had  started  making additional road gullies in some  roundabouts  in the city  to prevent  flooding during the rains.

An MC official said the project  had been  started  with two roundabouts  on the  national highway,  in Sector  32 and Sector 20. He said  these roundabouts were prone to flooding  during the monsoon due to the  absence of adequate number of road gullies. 

 With the construction of four more  bigger road gullies, rainwater would go quickly into the  storm   water drainage  system. The official said the  main  line of the  storm water system was going  below the centre of the roundabout; so it required pipelines in all four directions.

The roundabouts have become the   identity  of the  city  and are a part of its heritage. Ajay Jagga, a   member of the Heritage Protection Cell of the  Chandigarh  Administration, said the   MC should not interfere with the  original concept  of the roundabout.

Checking flooding during rains

• Sources said the MC had started making additional road gullies in some roundabouts in the city to prevent flooding during the rains. 
• The project has been started with two roundabouts on the national highway — in Sector 32 and Sector 20.
• These roundabouts are prone to flooding during the monsoon in the absence of sufficient number of road gullies.