Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited has started Round II of the ‘Make Your City Smart’ contest and invited designs from experts and citizens for redeveloping the BDA-OMC park at Saheed Nagar, a 1.3km stretch between Ram Mandir Square and Master Canteen Square and the busy Ram Mandir junction. Sandeep Mishra of The Telegraph takes a look at the condition of the areas that will be taken up for smart revamp.
Master Canteen to Ram Mandir Square (I)
The 1.3km stretch between Master Canteen Square and Ram Mandir Square is one of the city’s main arterial roads. This is the stretch where the city observes Raahgiri. It has pavements on both sides with service lanes. However, street vendors, temples and power transformers encroach on both the footpaths and service lanes.
Master Canteen to Ram Mandir Square (II)
The road is 60-metre wide and has eight lanes for smooth management of traffic. It also has three major junctions — Master Canteen, Sriya and Ram Mandir. On-street parking poses a major chaos for traffic management on this stretch. Plantation is sparse on the median, so are street lights on the stretch. All the junctions have zebra crossings, but pedestrians turn jaywalkers in the absence of barriers on median. The area also lacks adequate benches and dustbins.
Ram Mandir junction
One of the busiest junctions on Janpath is close to major places such as Ram Mandir, Big Bazaar Mall, Ekamra Haat and Idco exhibition ground. Ironically, the junction lacks traffic lights, and the absence of cops makes the place chaotic, particularly during peak hours. The junction also does not have speed-regulating mechanism and speed-limit signage. The junction has pavements on all sides but faces problems of encroachment by unauthorised vendors and autorickshaws.
BDA-OMC Park at Saheed Nagar
Residential areas surround the park, which caters to at least 3,000 people. Around 500 people visit the 1,800sqm triangular park every day. Although the general condition of the park is good with green spaces and landscaped areas, it doesn’t have eating and drinking facilities and well-equipped play zones for children aged between one and 10 years. It also lacks facilities for differently-abled persons. The park has six benches, 10 lampposts, five dustbins and a water body.
Join the contest
The Round II of the contest began on August 10 and will end on August 31. Those interested can visit the www.mygov.in and post their designs. The winner will get Rs 1 lakh, while the first and second runners-up will get Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000, respectively. Till today, 34 design proposals have been received on this website. In the Round I of the contest, which took place from June 25 to July 15, in all 35 proposals were received for development of two Saheed Nagar parks and the stretch between Vani Vihar, Ram Mandir Square and Rajmahal Square.
Pictures by Ashwinee Pati
