Bhubaneswar, Feb. 17: The city administration has decided to put a brake on two proposed projects along Janpath after the state capital's special purpose vehicle for implementing the ambitious smart city project requested the respective agencies not to go ahead with them.
The two overbridges were proposed to come up near Rupali Square and Master Canteen Square.
The decision comes after the Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL)'s decision to convert Janpath into the city's smartest street. The stretch is also included in the area-based development component of the smart city proposal, which will see an array of other infrastructure projects.
"We have communicated to the local authorities, including the public works department and other government and private agencies, not to take up any infrastructure projects on Janpath as we have other plans to develop this stretch under the smart city project. The overbridges were one of the projects on this stretch," said a BSCL official.
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), in 2012, decided to construct three foot overbridges - near Pal Heights at Jayadev Vihar Square, Rama Devi Women's University at Rupali Square and Master Canteen Square. While the BMC took nearly four years to complete work on the Jayadev Vihar Square overbridge, work on the other two never began.
The BMC chose the areas for the overbridges because of several accidents that had occurred there in the past. "Work was stalled because of a plan to have a rapid bus transport system," said a civic official.
He said the project would have been executed in a public-private-partnership where the civic body would not bear any cost. "The private partner was to spend the money. It was good that the bridges were delayed on Janpath. If it would have been constructed, it might have to be demolished for new projects," said the official.
Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said Janpath would see all-round development in the smart city project. "The purpose of the overbridge was to provide safe passage to pedestrians for crossing the road. That purpose will now be served by the new pelican system, which will be installed in all major junctions of the city. All junctions on Japath will have the advanced system in place," said Jena.
Pelican is a modern technology that ensures pedestrian control over zebra crossings. It is an automatic system where pedestrians could turn the signal green by pressing a button while crossing the road and then turn it back to red once they do. The system will be introduced in the state capital as part of the revamp of traffic signalling system under the smart city project.
"The bridge was necessary near our institute since many students cross the road, risking their lives. If the administration has decided not to construct it and introduce a new system, they should first do it here and near Master Canteen area," said Rama Devi Women's University student Sushree Ankita.
