Kanaka Durga flyover: Delay in project irks commuters

Vijayawada: Delay in the Kanaka Durga flyover works is a matter of serious concern to the citizenry here. The flyover has been a dream of the residents of Vidyadharapuram and Bhavanipuram, and the works had started a couple of years ago after years of agitations. Chief Minister Chandra-babu Naidu has given top priority to the construction of Kanaka Durga flyover as it can reduce the traffic woes of the city. The AP government aims at completing the flyover works by Krishna Pushkaram in August this year. Works got delayed with the traffic diversions and also as the riverfront development works were taken up for the Pushkaralu.

Considering the request of contract agency Soma, the Chief Minister had given one more year last year, and asked for the completion of works by August this year. This has now been extended till October 2017. Residents of Bhavanipuram, Gollapudi, Vidyadharapuram and Ibrahimpatnam are cribbing about the delay in the project. “We are eagerly waiting for completion of the Kanaka Durga flyover but the contract agency is buying time from the government. We are facing serious problems with traffic diversions. Traffic jam at the tunnel centre wall is killing our time,” says K. Karthik Kumar a medical representative and native of Gollapudi.

Devotees of Kanaka Durga Temple are upset that the flyover works will not be completed by Dasara. “We have faced problems in reaching the Durga temple last year with the flyover works on. Queue lines were diverted into Maha Mandapam passing through seven floors which created problems for us,” says Vedantam Lakshmi Srujana a home maker. Citizens demand that the government monitor and expedite the works so as to also end the traffic jams soonest.