BHUBANESWAR: Residents of Saheed Nagar in the city have urged the state government to look into irregular widening of the road from the Bomikhal-Saheed Nagar flyover to Janpath and construction of multi-storey buildings that threaten to block drainage channels in the area.
The residents, under the aegis of Maharshi College Road Welfare Trust, pointed out that the overbridge which ends at Saheed Nagar is 60 feet wide but its width reduces to 40 feet a little ahead. As a result, the stretch of road has become accident prone. This apart, the width of the road which extends towards Janpath, varies at many locations.
“In the BDA’s CDP map and maps of GA and Revenue departments, the road is shown as a straight road from Bomikhal railway line to Janpath. However, in reality, its width is 40 feet at places, 30 feet at some other point and 50 feet near Janpath. At present, the R&B wing which is undertaking road expansion work plans to acquire private land in Satya Nagar instead of government land available on the south of the road, for the purpose. This will affect people who have acquired land at Satya Nagar and have been living there for several decades,” said Manmohan Panda, a local. He added all the residents of Satya Nagar whose houses are located close to the road have been asked to leave 8 to 9 feet of land for its future expansion.
They further pointed out that multi-storey buildings are coming up on the southern side of the road, which will block the natural drainage channels of Saheed Nagar and Satya Nagar.
The residents said although they have written thrice to CM, BDA, BMC, GA and Revenue departments on the issue, there has been no response. Requesting the government to look into the issue, they said the road from Bomikhal railway line to Janpath needs to be expanded by acquiring government land in the south instead of taking over private land and putting residents in trouble.