Ring road project hangs fire, bus stands in limbo

BERHAMPUR: Several development projects in Ganjam district continue to hang fire due to apathy of the administration. To ease traffic congestion in the city, the district administration in 2013 had announced to start work on a 46-km ring road and three new bus stands at Berhampur, Gopalpur and Chhatrapur.
Accordingly, notifications for land acquisition for the ring road and three bus stands were published and subsequently, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone for the projects before the last General Elections in 2014.

Later, high level committees also reviewed the projects which are meant to boost development of the proposed Greater Berhampur (Berhampur, Chhatrapur and Gopalpur).As part of the proposed ring road, while 13-km long Raghunathpur-Ratanapur bypass road was planned to be constructed by National Highways Authority of India, a 15-km stretch of Dakhinapur-Lathi-Haladiapadar and a 17-km stretch connecting Mandiapalli-Karapalli and Phulta were supposed to be taken up by the Public Works Department at an estimated cost of `330 crore.

Till date, tender for the ring road has not been floated and the proposal has remained a non-starter.
Similarly for the three bus stands, 4.5 acres of land were earmarked for the Haldiapadar terminus, 1.5 acres for Gopalpur and 2.46 acres for Chhatrapur. The three bus stands, constructed at a cost of `26.32 crore, were inaugurated in 2016. 

However, buses are not using the stands at Gopalpur and Chhatrapur due to some restrictions of Berhampur Development Authority (BDA). Similarly, the Haladiapadar bus stand is waiting for NHAI nod for some modifications on National Highway-16 which connects it.Contacted, BDA Chairman Subash Maharana said as the road from Haladiapadar connects NH-16 directly, there are possibilities of accidents. A diversion is being constructed at the spot with a traffic post and the bus stand would operate soon, he claimed.

The district administration needs to strictly direct bus operators to use Gopalpur and Chhatrapur stands, Maharana said and added that the ring road is in the pipeline.On the other hand, Food Supplies, Consumer Welfare and Cooperation Minister Surya Narayan Patro, who hails from the region, contended that since Haladiapadar bus stand is located 5 km from the city and the area is also underdeveloped, passengers would not prefer to cover the distance. Unless the city is not expanded to the border, Haladiapadar bus stand may not be viable for public, he added.