Bhubaneswar, June 19: Children and their parents visiting the Pathani Samanta Planetarium or the Regional Museum of Natural History here put their safety at risk every time they cross the congested Acharya Vihar-Sainik School Road from the Utkal University end to reach the two buildings.

Now, they have demanded a foot over-bridge near a bus bay opposite the buildings. While the planetarium attracts nearly 2lakh visitors every year, the museum draws nearly 2.5lakh people.

Badal Kumar Das, a Class IX student of Vivekananda Bidyapeeth, Laxmisagar, Bhubaneswar, who went to the planetarium today for a show, said: “After getting down at the bus bay, crossing the median and reaching the planetarium has become a dangerous task with speeding traffic all around. I found it very difficulty today to cross the road and reach the planetarium.”

Goutam Sahu, a Class II student of Cambridge, Indirapuram, New Delhi, said: “In our school, we are taught about road safety and how to obey traffic rules and regulations. But while going to the planetarium today, I saw how unsafe kids were. The authorities should think about the little ones who cross the median to reach the planetarium or the museum.”

Goutam’s mother Binodini said: “The civic authorities should think about the safety of people, especially students arriving from the bus bay end of the road. Since the number of visitors is certain to rise in future, the officials should start planning from now.”

Subhandu Patnaik, deputy director of Pathani Samanta Planetarium, said: “Digital equipment were installed in our planetarium on May 29 last year. Since then we have seen 1.7lakh visitors. The number will definitely go up in the next one year. However, the civic authorities never considered the safety aspect of visitors arriving from the Utkal University end.”

When a road-widening project was underway near the planetarium a few months ago, the authorities had requested the public works department to construct the bus bay on the same side as that of the planetarium. However, the bay was constructed on the opposite side, forcing visitors to cross the median.

“We have informed the mayor regarding this and he has assured that steps would be taken to provide a foot over-bridge near the bus bay,” Patnaik said.

In the last year, about four to five accidents involving visitors have taken place on the road near the planetarium. “Last January, a school student was hit by a speeding vehicle while crossing the road. However, there were no major injuries,” Patnaik said.

G. N. Indresa, scientist in charge of Regional Museum of Natural History, said: “The footfall at the museum last year was 1.93lakh. This year due to the Central scheme to spend Rs 200 per Class IX student for science tours in every government high school, the footfall has gone up to 2.5lakh. If a foot over-bridge is constructed near the planetarium, then it will help us address the safety issue of visitors immensely.”

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said: “If students’ lives are at risk, we will conduct a survey. We have to look at the land requirement and traffic aspects as well before deciding on the bridge.”

Do you think the civic authorities have done enough while planning the bus bay? Tell ttorissa@abp.in