The 12-hour flyover

Since over a week now the traffic authorities have started opening the Thakurdwara flyover in the heart of Ghaziabad city every morning but as evening comes, it’s shut for the public, reports Peeyush Khandelwal.

Ever heard of a flyover which operates for only 12 hours a day and is closed at night?

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Since over a week now the traffic authorities have started opening the Thakurdwara flyover in the heart of Ghaziabad city every morning but as evening comes, it’s shut for the public. Reason: No provision for electricity over the flyover even after over a month of its opening.

The flyover cost the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) Rs 16 crore and has been opened and closed several times since its opening in October this year.

The traffic police, which is entrusted with the operations part of the flyover, closed it and prescribed several measures like provision of speed breakers, signals on curves and a speed limit of 20 kmph, to curb accidents.

On October 12 two trucks had had a head on collision on the flyover and one of the drivers was killed in an early morning accident.

The flyover has no dividers and is only 7.5 metre wide - causes for the traffic authorities to worry about more accidents on it.

“We can’t do much on the issue. There is no provision of electricity on the flyover. We have to put up barricades every evening and open them every morning. This is just to check the accidents which may happen,” said SP (Traffic) Anil Kumar.

On the other hand, the state electricity corporation and GDA officials are engaging in blame game.

GDA Chief Engineer Anil Garg said provisions for electricity is the responsibility of the electricity department. UPPCL Superintending Engineer Arun Kumar said he would look into the request for electricity connection and expedite the matter.

“This is sheer waste of public money. There are surely marked problems with this flyover which the officials were not able to envisage before construction,” said Satender Raghav, a Govindpuram resident.