Passengers wait for a bus on the NH-5 flyover in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, June 11: People commuting by bus have a tough time boarding or alighting at various Jayadev Vihar bus stops that have come up randomly just around the flyover on the NH-5 here because of dividers on the road under it.

The divider is built perpendicularly under the flyover on the road that connects Kalinga Stadium with Patia.

Constructed three years ago, the divider blocks movement of vehicles on the parallel roads beside the flyover.

At present, buses going towards Baramunda from Acharya Vihar ply through the flyover. Passengers are forced to board the buses either at the beginning or end of the flyover. From there, they are forced to take an autorickshaw to reach the square, which is more than a kilometre away. The autorickshaws charge between Rs 30 and Rs 50 to cover this distance.

Passengers coming from CRP Square also face the same problem on the other side of the flyover.

“While the bus fare between the twin cities is only Rs 30, the autorickshaws charge more than that to take us home from the bus stops. It is not reasonable. The root cause of the problem is the divider that has kept the parallel roads beside the highway flyover blocked since 2010,” said Mahendranath Mohapatra, president, Jayadev Vihar Sanskrutik Unnayan Parishad.

“While blocking the road under the NH-5 flyover with the construction of the divider, the traffic, highways and public works departments never considered the plight of the common people who avail the bus service. It is unfortunate that whenever we approach the authorities, they say that the city management group has taken a collective decision to close the square under the flyover. But, it is still not known to us why they were not interested to construct a traffic post or a circle and manage the traffic under the flyover,” said Mohapatra.

Assistant commissioner of police (traffic) Binod Das, however, said: “Opening of the road under the flyover is not possible as it will result in more accidents. The city management group has started a process to construct a foot overbridge and the municipal corporation will execute it.”

Another senior traffic official said: “Installation of traffic lights under the NH-5 flyover is also not possible because of the number of roads merging at the square.”