Bhubaneswar: The smart city project seeks to transform Janpath into one of the best streets here, but chaos marks the stretch as underground cable laying work has slowed down to a snail's pace.

Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) started the project from Sishu Bhawan Square and it has reached Master Canteen Square. The street is being redesigned and aligned to the medians. The project also includes installing street furniture and marking lanes for various categories of road users.

However, the underground cable laying work, which is also going on alongside Janpath project, has created chaos on the entire stretch for commuters and pedestrians as well. As both sides of the road have been dug up to lay cables, there is no space to park vehicles.

"This is one of the busiest streets of the city having a number of commercial and other establishments. Such projects like laying underground cable should be completed as soon as possible. They can't leave the roads in such a bad condition," said Ashish Moharana, a shopkeeper on the stretch.

Due to the digging, the 60m wide road has now narrowed down to 40m leaving lesser space for the vehicles or pedestrians to move. Traffic congestion has become a headache for cops managing traffic on Janpath junctions.

"The riders are not abiding by the rules and we are inadequate in number to manage traffic flow. As the road has become narrow, they are violating signals red lights taking advantage of the congestion. Pedestrians are the worst affected," said a traffic cop at Sriya Square in Kharavela Nagar.

According to a survey that the smart city authorities undertook, at least 54 per cent stretch of the Janpath is used as driveway, while 20 per cent of it is dedicated to pedestrians and cyclists. The remaining 26 per cent space is lying under utilised. Keeping this in view, plans were made to redevelop Janpath into a smart street, source said.

However, looking at the present condition of the road, citizens are sceptical about the outcome of the project.

"It is necessary to ensure that work does not affect commuters. The truth is that the project, especially the cable laying work, is giving us a tough time," said Birendra Jena, a resident of Unit III.

The Central Electricity Supply Utility (Cesu) of Odisha and Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited had hired L&T to execute the underground cable laying work in the city. The project aims at putting the entire overhead electric and other utility wires underground. "The contractor has assured us of completing the work by the end of next month. We have asked the supervisors to ensure safety at the worksite and not to make people suffer due to the work," said a senior Cesu official.