Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Poorly planned road repair works in Bhopal’s busiest market zones have led to severe traffic congestion amid Diwali shopping rush.
The delay in tender processes has caused the repair work between 10 No. Market and Bittan Market handled by the Public Works Department (PWD) to coincide with the festive season, leaving commuters and traders hassled.
With over 10 lakh daily commuters in the city, the narrowing of major routes has intensified jams, especially as festive shoppers throng the markets. Local traders say the situation has badly affected business.
Anand Soni, president of the 10 No. Market Traders Association, told Free Press that the tender for the 2 km stretch was issued two months ago and the work was scheduled to begin before Navratri.
“However, on the instructions of the traffic police, the work was postponed. Now, only one lane has been completed, and the traffic has been diverted to the other lane. The height of the new CC road has also been raised by about 4–6 inches, which has forced its temporary closure for vehicles,” he said.
As a result, two-way traffic from the 50-meter-wide road has now been restricted to a single 25-meter lane, leading to long snarls and hours-long delays for commuters.
Poor departmental coordination
PWD’s new city division executive engineer, Ratan Somkuwar, admitted that the problem arose due to poor departmental coordination. He assured that corrective steps are being taken to ensure smoother traffic flow.
Meanwhile, the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) has floated new tenders worth Rs 9 crore for additional road repair works across the city. BMC superintending engineer Subodh Jain said that work on eight major roads under the corporation’s jurisdiction will commence after Diwali to avoid further disruption during the festive period.
