JDA had recently widened this road adjacent to the Lal Kothi Sabji Mandi and constructed an underpass as part of the Laxmi Mandir Tiraha project. “We had a tough time removing these vendors when we started the project. After much effort, we had managed to remove them. Now that we had finished widening and cementing the road, they have come again,” said a JDA official.
JDA engineers claimed that as per an estimate more than 85% vehicles plying on Tonk Road-bound flank of the Sahakar Marg take a right turn at the Laxmi Mandir Tiraha. Vehicles heading towards Rambagh Circle or Narayan Singh Circle from Bais Godam generally head towards the Statue Circle from the Sahakar Bhawan Circle.
“Once the signal-free project is implemented, the traffic plying on the Tonk road-bound flank of Sahakar Marg will take this road adjacent to Sabji Mandi and take the underpass to reach the Nehru Bal Udayan side. Because there won’t be any right turn at the tiraha, this road needs to be free from congestion. The vendors need to removed from this road at the earliest, else the project won’t be successful,” said a JDA engineer.
Officials said, they completed the work on January 15 and eight to 10 vendors occuped the space from the next day itself. There are allegations that local MLA of Malviya Nagar constituency Kalicharan Saraf is supporting these vendors. An altercation took place between JDA officials and the leader Thursday evening. “The JDA project has created problems for local shopkeepers. I was there to inspect these problems. I am not against any project. But problems of the shopkeepers also need to be sorted. We are trying to find out possible solutions,” added Saraf.
