The impediment for constructing the approach road of Walmi bridge built on Kaliyasot river in Bhopal has not been cleared yet. Several meetings were held in 8 years and more than 12 plans have been made, but failed to conclude building approach road.
Ministers and Commissioners have also made efforts regarding this. Now the residents have taken to the road. They have also threatened not to vote in the Lok Sabha elections.
Work for Walmi Bridge was started in the year 2016. It was prepared by CPA. During construction, the Walmi (Water and Land Management Institute) administration had refused to give land for the road. The bridge work was completed in anticipation of the matter being resolved.
Even 8 years have passed since the bridge was built, but traffic has not been started on it because Walmi has refused to give his land for the approach road. Walmi officials are not ready to talk about this. In earlier meetings, Walmi officers had argued that the construction of the approach would damage the greenery.
People of Rajharsh C Sector Colony located on Kolar Road had demonstrated on Sunday demanding construction of an approach road in front of the bridge and removal of Walmi wall. They have also warned of boycotting the Lok Sabha elections. Posters and banners saying 'No way, no vote' have also been put up in the colony. They said that due to lack of road construction one has to travel 7 to 8 kilometers. This is causing trouble. Jitendra Singh, a resident of the colony, said that he has sent a memorandum with the signatures of all the colony residents to the Chief Election Commissioner in New Delhi.
Residents of Rajharsh C Sector had also demonstrated about five years ago. His demand was that if an approach road of about 200 meters long is built after the bridge, then the people of the colony can get a direct route and the 5 lakh population of Kolar can get an alternative route. Then it was decided at the government level that Valmi Bridge would be connected to the elevated road. This road will connect to the road leading to Kaliyasot Dam near Excellence College. From here people will be able to cross to the other side. The then minister PC Sharma and the then divisional commissioner Kalpana Srivastava had resolved the matter by holding a meeting. However, later Walmi refused to give the land. For this reason the issue of approach road is still stuck.
People of Rajharsh Colony say that by removing the boundary wall of Walmi and building the approach road, the journey of 7 to 8 kilometers will be saved.
Rajharsh Grih Nirman Samiti was given permission by T&CP in the year 1988-89 for residential development on 14.5 acres of land. People of the colony say that Walmi erected a boundary wall on the proposed route of T&CP in October-18.
Before this, the people of the colony were using this road for 20 years. Due to this, for many years residents have been covering a long distance of 5 to 7 kilometers to reach their office or other places. To get this road opened, the people of the colony complained several times to the Collector and CM Helpline, but when the road was not opened, they took to the road. Now a mail has been sent to the Chief Election Commissioner asking for boycott of voting.
