BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to provide some relief to commuters, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has come up with the idea of installing temporary sheds at traffic intersections, in the capital city.
BMC officials said the civic body has started installing temporary sheds at traffic junctions and some have already been installed at Kalinga Hospital square, Nalco Nagar and other places. All major traffic junctions will get such sheds soon, they said.
“The idea is to protect commuters waiting at the traffic junctions from blazing heat during day. This will lower the risk of adverse impact of heat on motorists, especially those travelling in two-wheelers,” said another official.
While some appreciated the civic body’s move terming it empathetic, many stated it clearly indicates lack of adequate green cover in the capital city. “The move that appears to be a humane approach, however, is not going to solve our problems. We need good amount of greenery along the roads in Bhubaneswar to address the adversity of such prolonged heatwave in future,”said Harihar Rout from Baramunda area of the city.
Prateek Kumar, anther youth said, “Lack of trees is turning city roads into heat chambers during day in summer. One of service road stretch from Satya Vihar-Rasulgarh of around 2 km, has only two to three large trees. The government and local administration must focus on promoting median plantation to address the crisis.”
Development work, as well as cyclones in the past, have robbed of the capital city of its green cover to a significant extent. A large a number of large trees were uprooted in cyclone Fani.