Traffic snarls: Road linking SCB to be widened

CUTTACK: With the traffic snarl-ups on the Mangalabag Chhak-SCB Medical Road posing problems to patients,  who are taken to the Medical, the Commissionerate Police have sought the assistance of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) in widening the road by removing the barriers. Police have proposed to convert the stretch along the SCB boundary wall into a two-wheeler parking lot as well as space for momentary parking by four-wheelers or ambulances that ferry patients to the diagnostic centres and medical facilities on the road.   The stretch comprises vacant land in wired enclosures that had been set up following a sustained eviction drive to clear encroachments in the early 2000s. The whole space can be concretised along with putting slabs on the drains to make a good parking area. At least six-foot wide space can be created along the over 100-metre stretch. This would considerably ease the congestion on the road, which is mainly caused by parking in front of the diagnostic centres and other medical institutions that line up along the road from Mangalabag Chhak to the medical. The roadside vendors and small shop-owners would be shifted to the other side of the medical gate where the CMC is planning a vending zone with more than 100-shop capacity. The police and the CMC are also set to launch a massive eviction drive from Buxi-Bazaar to Choudhury Bazaar and from Bajrakabati Road to Khan Nagar from June 7. The drive would clear all encroachments along the busy thoroughfares. One-way traffic would also be introduced on Dolmundai-Pithapur and Dolmundai-Haripur Road stretches to ease persistent congestion. The decision to launch the anti-encroachment drive was taken by a high-level committee chaired by Commissioner BK Sharma on Friday. Cuttack DCP Pravin Kumar on Sunday held a meeting of the traffic wing in the City. Taking exception to the rampant violation of traffic signaling system at Chandi Chhak, the DCP directed strict enforcement of  rules. Officers would be posted at the square to penalise the violators from Monday.