Kolhatkar may put city back on track

VADODARA, June 25: With the Vadodara Municipal Corporation deciding in principle to implement the Kolhatkar Plan, city residents can look fo...

VADODARA, June 25: With the Vadodara Municipal Corporation deciding in principle to implement the Kolhatkar Plan, city residents can look forward to jettisoning traffic congestion and chaos around the railway station.

Talking to Express Newsline on Thursday, City Engineer B K Desai said the civic body had already demarcated lines where changes are to be effected and would begin work soon on the project.

Submitted three years ago by architect P M Kolhatkar of the Society for Clean Environment, the plan, according to Desai, would have cost the VMC Rs 20 lakhs if implemented then, but would be Rs 10 lakh more expensive now.

Highly placed officials told Express Newsline that the plan did not incorporate suggestions of the Central Institute of Road Transport, Pune 8212; assigned by the Vadodara Urban Development Authority to report on the traffic problems of the city 8212; as they did not mention anything specific about the railway station area.

However, the Indian Institute of Architects8217; recommendations on the Kolhatkar Plan would be studied, Desai said, adding that it had pointed out that the plan did not consider pedestrians8217; problems. Incidentally, IIA chairman Nutan Desai has demanded the stalling of the plan in a letter to Municipal Commissioner G R Aloria.

The plan proposes dividing the right track between Sayajiganj Tower and the railway station into two, reducing the size of the bicycle stand near Sayajiganj Tower and providing only one entry/exit point in the local bus stand near the station.

Kolhatkar has suggested setting up a traffic junction in the 66-feet-wide double-track road stretches. The current width of the road is 40 feet. The traffic islands near Kalaghoda and the stone construction around the Sardar Patel statue in Sayajigunj will also be made smaller.

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He has also recommended making the entry to the railway station the exit and vice-versa, which would prevent motorists from having to take a circuitous route. Nutan Desai, on the other hand, has suggested that the local bus stand be shifted to the garden opposite the Sayajigunj police station so that the bus stand area could be better utilised.

Kolhatkar has suggested setting up a separate taxi stand near the railway station and a cycle stand near Hirak Baug, which at present is used to put up hoardings, both of which would be revenue-earning measures.

While VMC sources said the work could start before the monsoons, Desai cautioned that lack of co-ordination could lead to traffic jams upto Alkapuri.