CRYING FOR ATTENTION: Pedestrians and vehicles jostle for space on the narrow stretch at the busy Panja Centre in Vijayawada.

VIJAYAWADA : A slight curve in the road or a bus driver slowing down for a brief chat with another is sufficient to throw traffic out of gear at busy traffic junctions. This is exactly what is seen often at the busy Panja Centre in One Town.

The roughly half-a-kilometre stretch of the road between Panja Centre and the railway station is flanked by Gandhi Hill on the southern side and railway quarters on the northern side. A five-foot high wall separates the road and the railway quarters, and it eats into a large part of the road space, thus, causing frequent traffic jams.

No response

A proposal to widen the road to ease vehicular movement is pending since 1962. "I have been running from pillar to post for over four decades to get the road-widening project sanctioned. But none seems to be interested in resolving the issue," says Abdul Azeez, a resident of the area.

He says the railway authorities sought an alternative site when locals approached them with a plea to part with the vacant stretch of land for road widening. Demolition of the wall will pave way for increasing the road stretch. But the 210 square yards of land allocated by the railway authorities for the purpose is far from adequate, says Mr. Azeez. "We need at least 2,700 square yards to meet the increasing traffic demands," he maintains.

Pollution

"There is hardly any time for traffic to get dissipated. Vehicles queuing up due to clogged traffic is a common scene," says Md. Nizamuddin, who runs a book and stationary shop at the centre. "Traffic congestion also leads to slower speed, waste of fuel and increase in air pollution due to acceleration and braking," he points out. "Buses stop abruptly right in the middle of the road compounding the problem. A double-lane road can bring down the number of accidents," says Madhu Kumar, who runs an STD booth.

Interestingly, Panja Centre falls in the 40th division of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation, represented by none other than Mayor Mallika Begum. "I have spoken to commissioner Gulzar and he promised to sort out things at the earliest.

He intends to call for a meeting of the railway authorities and local shopkeepers to elicit their views before taking any decision. We may have to remove a couple of shops from the centre to make way for road-widening," she said.

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