E-Paper
{Four years since commencing} A road too long for Smart City project
The work to develop Sarabha Nagar Market and Sat Paul Mittal Road also called Malhar Road was started in November 2018, the project was taken up at ₹50 crore under the smart city mission
Even after the declaration of Sat Paul Mittal road as a “Smart Road” by the municipal corporation (MC), electricity poles which stand in the middle of the road continue to pose traffic hurdles for commuters and pedestrians.
The work to develop Sarabha Nagar Market and Sat Paul Mittal Road also called Malhar Road was started in November 2018, the project was taken up at ₹50 crore under the smart city mission.
While the civic body officials claim that 98 percent of the work for the development of Smart Road, Phase 1, including streetscape, handicap-friendly sidewalks and on-street parking is completed, however, the ground situation presents a different scenario.
The old streetlights and electricity poles which are in the middle of the road are yet to be removed. This cause traffic disturbance sometimes leading to accidents, a number of poles are in between the road thus narrowing the space for the commuters.
After a resident approached the court against a transformer installed outside her house, the work to install upgraded transformers for underground wires on cemented foundations is getting delayed.
Rahul Verma, a resident of Sarabha Nagar said that May 2020 was the deadline to complete the project. It is disturbing to see residents undergoing harassment on a regular basis due to the failure of the authorities. He added that underground wiring should be made functional and poles which are encroaching on the road should be removed.
Executive engineer Balwinder Singh (buildings and road branch) said that the civil work for laying underground wires at the Malhar road has been completed, but is getting delayed as the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) is yet to fix the connections.
He added that PSPCL has put it on hold for technical reasons owing to the monsoons as the project is the first of its kind in the state.
He added that the issue of transformers can be resolved by shifting the load on transformers other than the one installed outside the resident’s house.
Cycle tracks at Malhar road come to naught
The 1.1 km cycling track created at Malhar Road after much delay has become the favourite spot for car parking for shoppers and visitors at the outlets and eateries located on the road.
The cycling track which is around 3 feet wide, was hailed as a huge boost to environment-friendly initiatives in the city but due to a lack of parking space at the commercial lane, there is hardly any space left for cyclists to cycle on.
