Surat: The traffic chaos due to vegetable and fruit vendors encroaching on the road in front of the APMC market on Kadodara Road, which has persisted for over 15 years, was resolved by the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) in two days.
While there are roads that have been encroached on at many places in the city, it took just a few hours for the SMC to remove the encroachments on Kadodara Road, which had not been addressed for a long time.
The quick removal of many years' worth of encroachments came after instructions were given by the standing committee to create space to begin construction of a flyover at the spot.
Recently, officials of the East Zone in Varachha came under scrutiny from the standing committee of the SMC, where they were asked to clarify why these encroachments were not removed despite multiple complaints. Due to the encroachments leading to traffic snarls, the SMC proposed a flyover at the spot earlier this year. Now, work on the project is set to start, for which a wider road is required.
"Work on the flyover will start soon and barricades will be set up to secure the construction area. There will be a need for enough space for traffic; thus, the railing is being removed," said an official.
On why the encroachments were not removed earlier, the officer said, "The unauthorized vegetable market was probably there before the road was widened, and it got secure space due to the railing for the service road. We have now resolved the issue."
As part of the actions, the removal of the railing for the service road on a 250m stretch on both sides began on Saturday. Work to remove the railing and road divider blocks continued on Monday. The railing had constricted the main road.