Gandhi Nagar-Satwari Chowk flyover project still a dream

Nidhi Sirohi

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Jammu, December 24

The ambitious project to build a flyover on the ever-busy Gandhi Nagar-Satwari road in the city remains on paper to date, courtesy administrative slackness and paucity of funds.

This is notwithstanding the fact that the stretch connects the Jammu airport with different parts of Jammu city and the administration has started the expansion of airport. Moreover, Satwari Chowk is surrounded by markets, banks and restaurants on three different sides and Army Cantonment on the fourth.

Long traffic snarls on all roads leading to or emerging from the busy Satwari Chowk has become the order of the day, subjecting commuters to a lot of hardships. Many a time, the commuters remain stuck due to the traffic signals at Satwari Chowk, with a large number of vehicles entering or leaving the city.

Sources said there was an initial plan of starting the project work in November this year, but it could not be materialised due to the alleged administrative lethargy and the paucity of funds. “The authorities at the helm of affairs have failed to make continuous and vigorous follow-ups on the project,” a source said.

Rakesh Shukla, owner of a tea shop at Satwari Chowk, said “I have been living here for the past 13 years and the road leading towards the airport has never been traffic-free. Barring a few hours at night, the road always witnesses heavy rush of vehicles. Unfortunately, the authorities don’t have any concrete plan to decongest this stretch. Successive governments made promises but no sincere efforts on the ground to address the traffic problem.”

Pertinently, the J&K Government had commissioned the 1.3-km-long expressway (flyover) from Bikram Chowk to Women’s College in Gandhi Nagar in May 2017. Funded by the Asian Development Bank, this flyover was constructed at the estimated cost of Rs 78 crore and was completed in four years. The project also included widening of the 1.5-km road from six lanes to eight lanes.

At that point of time, the then government had come under sharp criticism for not extending this flyover up to Satwari Chowk in view of the growing traffic problem. Various Jammu-based groups had been demanding for the construction of a flyover up to Satwari Chowk, connecting it with the existing Bikram Chowk-Gandhi Nagar Expressway Corridor to decongest the stretch.

When contacted, Bachan Lal Bhagat, director, Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) Jammu, said: “We are waiting for funds and sanctioning of loan to start the Satwari flyover project, which might take a few months. At present, our focus is on the previous projects. As soon as those projects are over and the paper work on the Satwari flyover is completed, it will progress.”