Bhubaneswar: Demanding a flyover and underpass at Khordha, leaders from BJP, BJD and Congress came under one roof in front of the Collectorate of Khordha on Tuesday.
A flyover in front of the Collectorate over NH-16 and an underpass at Gadakhordha have been a long pending demand of the locals to decongest traffic movement on the Highway bisecting the historic town.
It is pertinent to mention here that, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) have already undertaken the work to construct a Vehicular Under Pass (VUP) at the Collectorate, the entry point to the town. However, the locals and intellectuals under the banner of Khordha Nagarika Manch have been protesting the under pass and are instead demanding a flyover in the area.
Similarly, residents of the region demanded an under pass near Gadakhordha which has been marked a blackspot due to view numerous accidents which claimed several lives in the area.
Informing the events of the day to the media, MP Aparajita Sarangi said, “Development has no affiliation to any party. I am glad that leaders from all the parties are came together to raise the issue related to the public. It was a long standing demand to construct a flyover here because of heavy traffic movement on this road.”
“The cost of a flyover is approximately Rs 25 Crore while it takes approximately Rs 15 Crore to construct a VUP. This road connects 12 districts of Western Odisha. So a VUP will not be able to cater to heavy vehicles comfortably. We have all signed a petition in this connection urging the government to grant the flyover and the formal request will be sent to Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari tomorrow,” Sarangi said.
BJD’s Khandapada MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik said, “I am pleased that leaders here have put the motherland ahead of the political party.”
Other than Sarangi and Patnaik, the event was attended by Chilika MLA Prasanta Kumar Jagadev, Khordha MLA Jyotindranath Mitra, Jatani MLA Suresh Routray.
(Edited By Suryakant Jena)