Has Poor Planning Made Nagpur Flyovers Redundant?
The stage is all set for converting Nagpur into a Smart City. The work to set up smart kiosks, installation of CCTV and laying down of optical fibre cables, has all begun. But, the city has to iron out a few issues before it steps on the gas for the Smart City Mission.
Increasing traffic congestion and road accidents are some of the issues that need to be solved on an urgent basis. Poor planning of Nagpur's flyovers has created a situation wherein the authorities are now mulling tough decisions, including demolishing some of these flyovers.
“The flyovers in the city must be demolished. It will provide more space for the constructions of four-lane roads, which will help in managing traffic congestion in the city” Vishrut Landge, Associate Professor, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), was quoted by the Economic Times.
Meanwhile, the Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Limited (NMRCL) has started the demolition process of Chhatrapati Nagar flyover. This created traffic issues for the residents residing in Pande Layout, Gajanan Nagar and Prashant Nagar. Such demolition process reduces the livability standards of the locality. As people face problems in commuting and doing their basic duties, the residents are expecting the demolition process to be completed at the earliest. “For the first time, traffic jams were seen on the internal roads of the locality,” said Swati Sharma resident of Gajanan Nagar.
However, demolition of such nature comes with a cost. The expenditure incurred on constructing the new flyover, which will be build in place of Chhatrapati Nagar flyover, is Rs 425 crore. This expenditure can be easily avoided if factors such as growing population and the future needs of the city are taken into account.
Nagpur's population, as per 2001 Census, was 4,067,637. These numbers surged to 4,653,570 as per 2011 Census. Rapid urbanisation is making the city burst at its seams. In such a scenario, planning of infrastructure must be done to ensure that the construction meets the growing needs of the city. Also, there is enough scope of parallel construction.
Unplanned developmental practices are the twin reasons for increased incidence of floods in Srinagar and Chennai. Thus, well-planned infrastructural development is necessary for creating cities that attracts investors and buyers. For instance, Chandigarh is a well-planned city that is divided systematically and people want to live there. It was recognised as the most perfect city in the world by the BBC.
Nagpur must take care that the further planning is done with great care so that public money is not wasted on constructing and then demolishing the same structures.
Furthermore, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is strongly emphasizing on creating a strong public transport network. The arrival of metro will reduce the traffic congestion on the roads of the city. In the absence of free parking services, single lanes of the roads are used for parking private vehicles. The authority is thinking to fix this issue as well. Also, under the smart city initiative, a mobile app for citizens will be launched enabling them to conveniently find parking places.
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