Suryakant Jena

Bhubaneswar: After missing several deadlines for nearly seven years following its commencement, the controversial Bomikhal flyover was finally thrown open for public use in Bhubaneswar. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the much-awaited flyover on Wednesday.

With a total length of 1,547 metre and 7.5 metre width, the overbridge has three-way traffic and approach roads towards Saheed Nagar, Rasulgarh and Kalpana square. The flyover has been constructed at a cost of Rs 44 crore, and provides the much-needed crossing facility over the railway line for commuters coming from Saheed Nagar side.

Residents of the capital city have expressed happiness over the completion of the project and hope that the newly inaugurated flyover can ease traffic congestion on the busy Puri-Cuttack road.

“We had been anxious for the last seven years since the project had to go through a lot of controversies and casualties but we are happy that it has been finally completed,” said Parsuram Jena, a local resident of Bhubaneswar.

Secretary of Works department Nalinikanta Pradhan said even though the project was delayed, it will surely provide lots of benefits to the people of Bhubaneswar.

It is noteworthy that the construction of the project was delayed due to land acquisition issues and accidents. A portion of the flyover had collapsed on September 10, 2017 killing one person and injuring more than a dozen others. A few months later in May 2018, a labourer was killed and another sustained serious injuries after a set of iron bars fell on them while they were preparing a guard wall.

Following the incident, the Commissionerate Police had arrested owner of construction firm Panda Infra Projects- Pratap Kishore Panda. The State government also blacklisted the construction firm after a high-level probe and handed over the responsibility of construction of the project to the Public Works department.

scrollToTop