Bhubaneswar, Oct. 17: Inordinate delay in the execution of the Rajmahal flyover project has become a thorn in the side for officials as well as commuters. It has led to the closure of the one of the roads leading up to Rajmahal Square.

The project started in March 2009 and should have been over by March 2011, but after saying the work would be done by December this year, the engineers of Public Works Department (PWD) are now predicting completion by April 2012.

Delay apart, with the closure of one part of the Rajmahal Square circle on the Bapuji Nagar-Master Canteen Square side, the woes of commuters have multiplied. Now, a commuter coming from Sishu Bhavan and Bapuji Nagar has to travel through the Unit-I Market-AG Square-Rajmahal Square stretch, an extra distance of nearly 1km.

Pitambar Parida, a bank officer who stays in Pokhariput, said: “I was coming to Kharavella Nagar from the Sishu Bhavan-end. I had to take the diversion near Rajmahal Square and it took me some 15 minutes more than usual to get to my destination. The distance may be just 1km, but the confusion has made the diversion congested. The only relief is that Master Canteen-Bapuji Nagar is still open. Once that side is closed, people will definitely suffer more.’’

“The left portion of the circle at Rajamahal Square was suddenly blocked. I was unaware this would happen. When I came this morning from the Sishu Bhavan end, I was totally confused,” said Shantanu Acharya, a government employee. Commuters complained they had to wait for a long time at the AG Square, as it had become crowded creating traffic problems.

Traffic police said there traffic police had been deployed at the square to divert vehicles through AG Square. “The diversion was implemented today, so people will be confused on the first day. They will soon get used to the new arrangements. This is a temporary arrangement and will continue till December end,” said a senior traffic police officer.

He added that around 20 metres of the road towards Sishu Bhavan would be barricaded in the next few days to facilitate the ongoing construction work of the central pillar of the flyover. “The traffic problem will continue till the flyover work is finished,” said the officer.

The PWD officials explained that the portion of Rajmahal Square had been blocked temporarily only to keep commuters at a safe distance from the work site.

“An extra 18 feet had to be excavated for the central pillar. A 30-feet depth is maintained to facilitate construction of a tunnel under the central pillar. As there will be extensive use of machines to cast the concrete structure, with more than 170 tonnes of iron rods, we thought there might be accidents if commuters come too close during construction,’’ said executive engineer, division II of PWD, Ranjit Sahu.

Saying that the barricade will remain till Decamber 31, the senior PWD engineer said: “Once the work is over, the side of the Rajmahal Square will be open to the public.’’

Regarding the delay, he said: “We were planning to finish the work by December 2011, but the excavation of the central pillar took extra time because of the rocky strata. We used four excavators at one go, but still the strata was so strong that it took a long time to excavate the site.’’

Before the diversion, the fencing of the excavation site at the central portion of Rajmahal Square has caused serious confusion.

Traffic moves in an unregulated fashion, as the traffic personnel are finding it very difficult to control the flow of traffic.