Odisha's Rayagada roads to breath easy as bypass set to come up.

A bypass road will be constructed from Pitamahal village to Sirikona village with a connecting road from Sirikona to Rayagada town to reduce traffic congestion in the town.

This was informed by Collector Guha Poonam Tapas Kumar at a meeting recently. 

The demand for a bypass road has been demanded by the locals since formation of the district in 1992. 

Some of the major industrial houses like JK Paper Mill, Indian Metal and Ferro Alloys (IMFA) and Vedanta Alumina Limited (VAL) besides hundreds of medium and small-scale industries operating in the district deploy thousands of heavy vehicles which move through the town adding to traffic woes. 

No designated vending points, absence of parking facilities, unauthorised shops and kiosks on both sides of the road only increase the trouble for daily commuters.

The Collector said a bypass has become the need of the hour to reduce traffic snarls in the town and the local administration has prepared a road map for construction of the road from Pitamahal village to Sirikona village, which is a stretch of 14 kms, besides another four kms of connecting road from Sirikona village to outskirts of Rayagada town. 

Land acquisition for the purpose will begin soon and tender for the project has already been floated. 

Several other decisions related to infrastructure growth in the city were also taken in the meeting. 

While the auditorium near municipality office will be upgraded at a cost of ` seven crore, a planetarium would be constructed at Antariguda with Rs. 12 crore. 

Decisions were also taken regarding upgradation of District Headquarters Hospital at a cost of ` seven crore, construction of an ANM training centre, community hall for police, second bridge over river Jhanjabati near Majhigharani temple and a district disability rehabilitation centre.

THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS