KT Road expansion kept in abeyance

Vijayawada: The worries of people from Chittinagar to Milk Project along KT Road over possible demolition of their houses as part of the road expansion are temporarily subsided.Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) Commissioner J Nivas, during his recent visit to the area, agreed to keep the issue in abeyance until completion of Durga temple flyover.

The residents urged him to wait until flyover construction was over and then take a decision on the expansion basing on the traffic flow at that time. The residents brought to his notice that the flow of traffic on the road now was more because of the diversion of traffic from Gollapudi. The vehicles from Hyderabad side were now entering the city through KT road. This was the reason why the traffic jams happen often on the road giving an impression that the road was congested.

In fact, if the normal traffic on national highway No 9 (Ibrahimpatnam -Bhavanipuram road) is allowed to pass through Kummaripalem -Durga temple road, there is almost no traffic burden on the KT Road, they explained to the civic chief.
The Commissioner gave a patient hearing to the residents’ views on the problem and assured them to wait and watch until the completion of Durga temple flyover in a few months.

Earlier, VMC town planning officials issued notices to some residents over the road widening. A few of them then approached court to counter VMC and stop it from demolishing their houses. The residents contended that the move to widen the existing 80 ft road into 100 ft was ridiculous. They referred to Karl Marx road (Eluru road), which is known for heavy rush of vehicles, is only 80 ft from Vijaya Talkies to Apsara Cinema.

The residents formed a coordination committee with the participation of local people representing all political parties. Committee convener and former corporator DV Ramana Babu told ‘The Hans India’ that no accident or death occurred on the road since diversion of traffic coming from Gollapudi side to accommodate construction of Durga temple flyover.

He is of the view that after construction of the flyover and Inner Ring Road, the existing 80 ft road would be sufficient enough to meet the traffic needs of the future.Sama Ramakrishna, a resident of the locality, said encroachments were the main problem on the road. Shops and other commercial kiosks had encroached the road making it more congested, he complained. The road has different width at different places because of the encroachments, he added.Residents of Division Nos 30, 31 and 33 are worried over the idea of road expansion.

By Noor Shaik