The ambitious project of underpasses, which has been hanging fire for several years, has been transferred to the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh.
Taking serious note of the delay in the implementation of the project, Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Shivraj Patil on Tuesday directed the UT Administration to transfer the project from the nodal agency Chandigarh Housing Board to Municipal Corporation. Aimed at providing smooth flow of vehicular traffic in the city, a total of eight underpasses were proposed in 2006 here. Three underpasses at Press Chowk at Madhya Marg, Piccadily roundabout and Transport chowk were proposed in the first phase of the underpasses project in the city.
The CHB had also hired New Delhi based Consulting Engineers India (PVT) limited as consultants to assist the Board in understanding the work from concept to the completion of underpasses. The work related to traffic survey, Digital Topography survey, Geo-Technical survey, Utility Mapping related to the sites of the underground services and survey concerning General packet radio service (GPRS) was also completed by the CHB in 2009.
However, the project hit the roadblock with CHB going cash-strapped. later, due to infeasibility, the project was put in cold storage by the CHB. Also, the Centre had allocated Rs 5 crore for the current fiscal 2013-’14 for the much-awaited project of underpasses.