The slap of court and the compulsion of taking political advantage in the upcoming Assembly did the trick as the long pending Ballupur flyover was inaugurated on Thursday. It is the second flyover to be inaugurated in the State capital in last five days.
Chief Minister Harish Rawat who is on an overdrive of inaugurations and foundation stone laying programmes these days was slated to hand over this facility on the day but he could not make it to the ceremony. In his absence the flyover was inaugurated by the forest Minister Dinesh Agarwal. The work on two lane flyover was accomplished by Engineering India Private limited (EPIl) with a budget of Rs 28 crores.
Speaking on the occasion Agawrwal said that the State Government has completed its commitement to improve the traffic of the Dehradun by this flyover. He said that traffic situation in state capital would get vastly improved by the Balliwala, Ballupur and ISBT flyovers.
The Mayor of Dehradun Vinod Chamoli said that in works of development everyone should contribute by rising above the political compulsions.
The Rajpur MlA Rajkumar, Congress leader Jot Singh Gunsola, Surya Kant Dhasmana and others were present on the occasion.
The inauguration ceremony was marked with some pushing around and jostling as the contenders of congress party ticket from Cant assembly constituency tried to take grab the limelight around the minister. These leaders brought a crowd of their supporters who created a melee on the occasion. How eager these leaders were to show their presence could be gauged from the hoarding war which was visible on the Chakrata road on the day. These hoardings came up overnight on the flyover and the road leading to it. The supporters of congress leaders lal Chand Sharma, Surya Kant Dhasmana and Rajiv Jain, all contenders for the congress ticket from Cant assembly seat vied with each other to put their leaders in prominence in these hoardings.
The work on Ballupur flyover was started on March 2013 along with ISBT and Balliwala. Procedural delays marred these flyovers due to which these structures took a very long time top get completed. After jumping of as many as seven deadlines, the Uttarakhand High Court intervened on November 08 and asked the government to get them completed soon.