NASHIK: The Nashik Municipal Smart City Development Corporation Limited (NMSCDCL) or Smart City Company will construct a special junction at Raviwar Karanja Circle. On Sunday, a trial run was carried out on this background. For this, sacks filled with sand were placed circularly as a traffic island.
As a result, there was a continuous traffic jam throughout the day at Ashok Stambh, Raviwar Karanja, Red Cross Signal, MG Road, and Meher Signal. Yesterday the Nashikites faced heavy traffic jams due to the Jan Aakrosh Morcha of BJP. The Nashikites are facing daily such issues due to various works being carried out by the Smart City company to make the city ‘Smart’.
Works are now underway in the opposite direction of MG Road. The streets have become parking. If four wheelers come from both directions they hardly get passage to cross without difficulty. Each time there is a jam due to this situation.
An annoyed police officer said that there was no parking space in the parking lot. On the other hand, Nashikites have no discipline to drive vehicles. Therefore, traffic jams have become a daily occurrence here. From yesterday’s trial, it was clear that trucks, tempos, and big cars cannot pass through the junction and the ‘Company’ should take note of it. They have to move around in a circle and go the other way.
A board has also been set up by the Smart City Company here as a trial run of the junction work is being carried out here. On the other hand, works are still going at Nehru Chowk, Dahipul, for the last 5 months. Also, at Ghankar Lane, residents are facing inconvenience at present because of work to fix the damaged pipeline. Such road works are causing a lot of traffic congestion and inconvenience to shopkeepers and passersby.
Junction experiment a failure
The experiment of a bigger junction at Raviwar Karanja has been done before. It has failed in the past. After that, the current circle has been erected. The trial run also proved that it will create chaos. There is no possibility that the expansion of the traffic island will ease the traffic. But, it seems that it will add to the problems of commuters.
“The water pipeline got damaged, and another pipeline is being installed here. Due to this work, the road has been closed. We started the work today itself, and it will be completed in a day.” – Construction worker (Ghankar Lane ward no. 6)
“I always commute from this road. I think this road is more convenient, but now, travelling has become very difficult. I am a rickshaw driver, and I have to leave the passenger in the middle of the road, without dropping them at the stop.” -Nanabhau Kandhekar (Auto rickshaw driver, Ghankar Lane)
“I reached late to my workplace because of the construction work and trial run. There is a lot of traffic congestion, and the common man has to suffer a lot because of the construction work.” – Ramnath (commuter, Ghankar Lane)
“We are facing a lot of issues because the road work is in progress and customers don’t prefer to cross the pits dug by Smart City Company to reach our shops. The clothes in our shop become dusty. Apart from the pits, the smell coming from gutters is creating trouble for us. The dust makes the clothes dirty” – Gokul Rathi (shopkeeper, Dahipul)
