Cuttack, Aug. 6: A proposal to close the cut-point at the Sikharpur crossing here on NH-5 (Calcutta-Chennai) to prevent accidents is facing local opposition.
The traffic management committee constituted by Orissa High Court for Cuttack had decided to close the Sikharpur cut-point on NH-5 in its monthly meeting on July 26. The committee is headed by the police commissioner.
But the decision is facing stiff resistance from local residents. The Sikharpur-Gandarpur Puja Committee has expressed strong resentment against the decision on grounds of hardship to people on both sides of the national highway in the area.
The traffic crossing is the converging point of city traffic from Mahanadi Vihar, Nayabazar and Chauliaganj on the eastern side of the highway and Gandarpur, Sikharpur and Jobra on the western.
The issue was taken up at the puja committee's general body meeting on August 1. "We have resolved to take our grievance to the high court through a PIL," said Sikharpur-Gandarpur Puja Committee secretary Jayanta Kumar Pradhan.
"Around 20,000 people on either side of the highway will be affected. To travel from both sides, people have to travel one km to two km more after the cut-point is closed," Pradhan said.
The traffic management committee had taken the decision afresh on the basis of a report from the deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Cuttack, on the necessity of closing the Sikharpur cut-point on the NH to check the increasing number of accidents there. On May 3, the then DCP Sanjeev Arora had also presented the report to a house committee of the Assembly.
An estimated 40 to 50 accidents are reported on an average from the spot every month, and at least 12 persons have been killed there in the last three years, the report said.
"We hope to be in a position to prevent accidents at the Sikharpur crossing after the cut-point there is closed down," said Pradeep Kumar Dalei, assistant commissioner of police (traffic), Cuttack, and member of the traffic management committee.
"Because of the closure of the Sikharpur cut-point, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) plans to build an underpass at Kaliaboda along with service roads," said advocate Jaydip Pal, a member of the traffic management committee's sub-committee, which is looking into the problem.
The proposed underpass is nearly half a km from the present Sikharpur crossing.
But the local committee feels commuters from both sides of NH will face hardship if the cut point is closed without an underpass or flyover there.
"We demand construction of a vehicular underpass at Sikharpur traffic square across NH-5," the Sikharpur-Gandarpur Puja Committee secretary said.
"We have also resolved to appeal to the Union surface transport minister on the issue shortly," Pradhan said.
The traffic management committee had first taken the decision to close the cut-point at Sikharpur crossing in April 2012. But implementation had not been possible as an alternative road or underpass had not been developed, traffic management committee members said.
