The city’s longest road — Inner Ring Road (IRR) — is all set to be totally concretized by November. After completion of works, IRR will also become the city’s longest stretch of cement concrete road.
The 46-km stretch from Hingna T-point to Chhatrapati square, Kalamna, Automotive Square, Mankapur and on to Dabha has been concretized under two phases of IRR concretization and widening Project. A stretch of 4km from Amravati Road, Wadi to MIDC Hingna T-point was pending and not covered under these two phases.
This was pending as the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) declared the stretch from Amravati Road, Wadi to MIDC Hingna T-point to Hingna village to Gumgaon to Wardha as National Highway. The national highway division of state’s public works department (PWD) has now obtained approval for concretization of stretch from Amravati road, Wadi to Hingna.
PWD executive engineer Naresh Borkar told, “One side of 4km stretch from Amravati Road, Wadi to MIDC Hingna T-point has been concretized. Around 1km of other side has also been concretized. Remaining work is expected to be completed by November,” he said. Thus, the entire stretch of 50km IRR will be concretized.
East Nagpur MLA Krishna Khopde said concretization of IRR has come as a big relief for hundreds of citizens. “IRR used to be in bad shape always. Union minister Nitin Gadkari sanctioned funds and now IRR will have no problems for at least 100 years,” he said.
IRR’s concretization has benefitted people residing on the outskirts of the city. Also, those residing within IRR find it easy to travel to any national highways via the IRR.
Congress city vice-president Dipak Wankhede said IRR also has the dubious distinction of being one of the most delayed projects. “Funds were approved in 2015 and concretization of 50km was not completed in seven years. Works were supposed to be completed in two years. Other works like redevelopment of storm water drain network, footpath, road-divider etc are also pending,” he said.
Shiv Sena leader Nitin Tiwari said IRR is marred by inferior quality works. “Potholes have developed in many parts of the road. Cracks are common on the road. Surface layer has scaled in many stretches. Ministers and PWD are not listening to series of complaints lodged by citizens. All these are causing mishaps. PWD should take stringent action against its concerned engineers and contractors. Road would have truly benefitted people had the works been executed with proper planning and quality,” he said.
Another major advantage from the project to citizens is widening of stretch from Mankapur to Dabha. IRR was developed in 1992. Stretch from Amravati Road, Wadi to Chhatrapati Square to Automotive Square to Mankapur was four-lane. In phase-II, stretch from Mankapur to Dabha was also widened and concretized.
A major problem on IRR that is still pending is the Narendra Nagar railway under bridge (RuB), where waterlogging is yet to be resolved.
