Bhubaneswar redesign! Parallel road projects accelerated

In a significant development, efforts are underway on a war footing to ease traffic congestion by redesigning the layout of Bhubaneswar. 

According to reports, the state government has also shown active interest in the initiative. After nearly 10 years, work on both the left and right parallel roads at Acharya Vihar and Jaydev Vihar has begun to pick up pace.

According to BDA Vice-Chairman Chanchal Rana, the left parallel road will help decongest the busy Jaydev Vihar–Nandankanan stretch. For this, a 13-km road from Ekamra Kanan to the Institute of Mathematics has been proposed. However, issues had emerged over a 920-metre stretch passing through Salia sahi.

On the other hand, the proposed right parallel road from Acharya Vihar to the new Patia railway station remains incomplete. Although construction of the 3.5-km stretch from Acharya Vihar via Sainik School to Damana has been completed, the remaining 2.6-km portion between Kelucharan Park and Patia New Station has not progressed in the past 10 years.

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The BDA authorities have attributed the delay to land acquisition hurdles and illegal encroachments. They stated that the obstacles affecting the left parallel road have now been resolved, and work on the right parallel road is expected to begin within the next two months. 

"Parallel roads are very important for the public. A main stretch around 920 metres was passing through Salia Sahi. There were some land acquisition issues. There was a delay in the land acquisition process in some areas. However, we are now hopeful that the acquisition process will be completed within a month or two," said BDA Vice-Chairman Chanchal Rana.