ROURKELA: Traffic management has gone for a toss at Rourkela Smart City. Thousands of commuters in the city are having a harrowing time due to traffic snarls on the main road. The stacking of construction materials on the road is adding to their woes. Traffic is not being managed well on the 9 km-long stretch of Rourkela main road from Bisra to Panposh Square.
The situation is worse between Bisra Square and Plant Site area. The carriageway of the main road has been narrowed further by heaps of construction materials lying on it. These materials will be used for constructing parallel main drains.
Digging of the road for creation of underground sewerage system is also causing inconvenience to the commuters. According to sources, about 2.20 lakh vehicles ply on the roads in areas under RMC limits and Rourkela Industrial Township. “The slow progress of the construction works of the drain near Plant Site area and haphazard parking of vehicles has narrowed the main road by a few feet. The commuters witness chaos on the roads with the arrival of school buses and trucks to the main road through the narrow carriageway,” Sanjay Singh, a resident of the city, said. Another commuter, Shiv Shankar Sharma, said the civic authorities in the city should depute personnel to streamline the traffic.
“Some drivers or riders violate the one-way traffic rule on the main road that has been imposed till Uditnagar,” Sharma added. Sources alleged that some vehicles were being parked illegally at the Road Over Bridge (ROB) of Uditnagar area in the city. Commuters claimed that even the student traffic volunteers were not performing their duties properly.
“The traffic police personnel are often found talking or attending to phone calls while on duty at Uditnagar,” commuters said. The main road along Tarini temple area has remained shut for three years due to the ongoing ROB project at ITI level-crossing. Contacted, Rourkela SP Uma Shankar Dash admitted that the traffic was being affected due to the construction work of the drains. “New projects are coming up under Smart City Mission to eradicate parking issues. Surveillance cameras will be installed soon to check traffic violation,” he added.