Protesting the monumental delay in the construction of two major flyovers in the city – the Kanaka Durga and Benz Circle flyovers (projects) – the Vijayawada Congress staged a dharna at Dharna Chowk on Saturday.
The party alleged that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu failed to stand by his word of completing the projects even after 4 years of coming into power.
Although both projects were initiated to ease traffic in the city, the construction work has led to massive snarls and traffic jams that last hours on end.
Recently, Chandrababu Naidu expressed his displeasure over the delay and instructed the private company in charge of the projects to speed up the work. He wanted to flyovers ready by March this year.
Congress State President N Raghuveera Reddy said, “He mocked us earlier saying he would complete the project (Benz Circle) within one year of coming into power. But what is he doing now? It has been 4 years since he became CM.”
Congress official spokesperson, Kolanukonda Sivaji, said, “First he (the Chief Minister) said the project would be complete in one year. Then he said, 2016, 2017, and now authorities are saying it will get done only in 2018.”
Raghuveera Reddy also warned the government saying the party would undertake an indefinite protest unless the Kanaka Durga project was completed by March 2018.
However, Krishna District Collector B Lakshmikantham who inspected Kanka Durga flyover with other officials earlier this month said that both flyovers would be ready only by June 30 and clarified that 70% of the work was done in the Kanaka Durga project.
Traffic comes to a stand still
Benz Circle, which links the highways connecting Visakhapatnam, Machilipatnam, Chennai and Hyderabad has gained notoriety for its traffic problems.
The city, following the Amaravati boom, is seeing massive vehicular traffic. Recent data accessed by TNM suggests that while motorbikes have increased by 73.5% in the last one year, the number of cars on the roads have increased by 40% and transport vehicles by 15%.
In peak hours, places such as Benz Circle, Bandaru Road and Market Road see bumper to bumper traffic. And the movement of VVIPs along these roads don’t help the situation in any way.
Several private employees and college students told TNM that traffic restrictions during VVIP visits too only add chaos to the already jammed roads.