Expansion work on hold near the airport. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, June 22: The project for widening of the road from Sishu Bhawan to the traffic square leading up to the airport is still awaiting clearance of the general administration (GA) department.

As soon as GA department clears the land required for road expansion, the public works department (PWD) will start the work. At present, widening of the road between Sishu Bhawan Square and traffic square near the new airport road is blocked.

“While other parts of the city is witnessing road expansion work, a major link on which the chief minister travels daily is not been considered. The civic administration and the department concerned should act immediately and try to take possession of the land required for expansion of the road,’’ said a retired chief engineer of National Highway, Orissa.

“In fact, if road widening work is undertaken at the two ends of the Forest Park, the city can have an internal ring road. This concept was part of the city’s original master plan but it was changed as land crucial to the link was occupied by some powerful officials of the earlier state administration. A similar violation was also done near the Governor’s House square. The public works department should aggressively undertake the expansion plan,’’ he said.

In the past, the GA department had allowed “permissive possession” to plot owners of Forest Park for plantation and gardening purpose. However, in most cases the terms for “permissive possession” was violated and structures were found on them.

Once the widening of the road in Forest Park is done, the entire stretch from Vani Vihar to Sishu Bhawan Square via Acharya Vihar, Jayadev Vihar, CRP Square, Ganganagar Square and Hospital Square can work as an internal ring road. The state government is already working on an external ring road. Work on a 12-km stretch will begin under the PWD. Once completed, the outer ring road will be around 80km in length. Executive engineer, division-II of roads and building division, PWD, Ranjit Sahu, said that the monetary provision for four-laning of the Forest Park road has already been included in the planning process.

“However, the onus now lies with the GA department as work can start as soon as land for the stretch is made available,’’ he added. Urban planning experts feel that the purpose of expanding roads would be defeated in the absence of proper parking lots. Urban planning activist Piyush Ranjan Rout said: “There should be adequate planning for parking lots as it is seen that even after widening of major roads, the expanded portions are being used as parking area. The civic authorities and city police must step in to solve the traffic impasse.’’Another critical issue is vending zones, which has delayed expansion of the Vani Vihar–Sishu Bhawan road. “Even one vending zone is yet to be removed from the Rajmahal Square area,’’ said Sahu.