Kanaka Durga flyover works hit a roadblock

- Locals as well as commuters on Vijayawada-Hyderabad highway have to face traffic jams till summer next year
- Despite Centre sanctioning Rs 400 crore, laying pillars in Krishna River looks to be daunting task

Vijayawada: There is little respite for the commuters in the city on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada national highway, thanks to the tardy progress in execution of a flyover under construction from the Kummaripalem Junction to Pandit Nehru bus station. The flyover is named after the local deity Kanaka Durga as it passes off touching the foot of the Indrakeeladri Hills, the abode of the deity.

The flyover project is viewed as a ray of hope by the denizens who thoroughly vexed with the traffic bottlenecks in the stretch between Bhavanipuram and the bus station. As the highway connects the Kolkatta-Chennai via the city, traffic snarls have become the order of the day, increasing the travel time of passengers commuting from Vijayawada to Hyderabad. Even as the outer ring road project, connecting the two national highways by skirting the traffic-hit city is still a far-fetched dream, traffic has to invariably pass through this stretch only.

Consequently, it’s a nightmare for office-goers, students and the other road users travelling on the road via a narrow passage down the hill. A major part of the city, comprising Gollapudi, Vidyadharapuram and Bhavanipuram, is located away from the downtown on the other side of the temple. The residents living in these localities are forced to reach the city via this congested road to eke out a living.

The flyover project became a political issue when the TDP in opposition launched an agitation, blaming the previous Congress regime for its alleged failure to realize the project. The TDP leaders who spearheaded the movement promised to complete the flyover within a year after it would come to power.

Summing it up, an official from the Roads and Buildings department, the official agency overseeing the project execution, told The Hans India on the condition of anonymity that the flyover is unlikely to be thrown open to traffic before March at the earliest.

According to information, the project is failing to move forward and got stuck at construction of pillars stage. The laying of pillars in the Krishna river, which is a time-consuming process, is yet to be completed. The Central government sanctioned Rs 400 crore for construction of the six-lane flyover bridge connecting Kummaripalem junction and Pandit Nehru Bus station connecting the Kolkatta-Chennai highway at Krishna Lanka.

Though the State government announced that flyover bridge would be completed before Krishna Pushkaralu by August 2016, there is no scope of completing the works before summer 2017.

The flyover construction works hit a roadblock twice during the Krishna Pushkaralu in August and in October at the time of Dasara festival. As per the designs, 45 pillars are to be built from Kummaripalem to Krishna Lanka. Of them eight are to be built right in the river. When five pillars were already built, works for remaining three pillars in the river just commenced.

Since heavy vehicles pass over the six lane bridge, the R and B department officials are taking measures to ensure high quality in the flyover works. A senior official supervising the works said the pillars were laid in 30 meters deep in Krishna river.

He said the width of the bridge is 24 meters and the ready-made slabs will be laid over the pillars. Slab construction works are taking place in a workshop in Bhavanipuram and brought.

Huge cranes will be pressed into service for installation of slabs on the mega pillars. The State Government had earlier announced that the flyover construction works would be completed before Krishna Pushkaralu in August this year. However, due to technical reasons, the works are not completed yet even as 2016 is set to move off in the next few days.

Md Ameen