ROURKELA: Despite all the hype and noise around Rourkela’s elevation as Smart City, basic civic amenities continue to elude the residents with no hope of any early respite or improvement.
The condition of roads in the city is a stark testimony to the failure of the authorities in doing justice to the Smart City tag whose main objective is to ensure ease of living for the citizens.
Dilapidated, worn out roads replete with potholes filled with rainwater during monsoon mark the entire cityscape not only making commuting miserable for the people but also making their movement highly risky.
The nine-km main road stretch between Bisra Square and Panposh Square is a glaring example of official apathy.
With no repair or development work, the condition of the already damaged road has gone from bad to worst creating nightmarish conditions for the road users.
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Similar is the condition of the three-km stretch of the main road between Bisra Square and Lal Building area. The condition of this road has further deteriorated after laying of piped water and underground sewerage lines.
The high concentration of commercial activities parallel to the damaged three-km stretch of the main road between also results in long traffic jams.
Around 60 per cent of the road is occupied by parked vehicles and commuters face a harrowing time negotiating water-filled potholes and craters on the remaining narrow carriageway, said a local Shiv Shankar Sharma.
Another main road stretch from RN Pali area to Rourkela Government (Autonomous) College has remained closed for the last three years as a private construction firm Bramani Engicon Pvt Ltd (BEL) is carrying out a road overbridge project at a snail’s pace. Commuters are thus forced to take an arterial road through Civil Township, but that stretch too has got badly damaged.
The Rourkela Smart City Limited has now initiated efforts to develop the main road as a smart road in two phases.
General Manager (Operations) of Rourkela Smart City Ltd Naveen Patel said construction of first phase of smart road between Panposh Square to Uditnagar Square would start in a month at a cost of Rs 22.62 crore.
He said second phase of the work on the remaining stretch of the main road till Bisra Square would be taken up subsequently.