Foot over-bridge eludes accident prone Mamura crossing 

Greater Noida: Despite all the hype and hoopla over the much-awaited Mamura crossing foot over-bridge in sector 66, the project seems to have hit the roadblock. Work on the bridge has yet to see the light of the day leave alone the project meeting its April 2020 deadline. 

The work on the project, which was initially scheduled to start in July, soon after the completion of the tendering process, was postponed to October this year. Even as the October deadline was also missed there is no hope of the work getting underway anytime soon.    

Ever since the completion of the tendering process for the Rs 2-crore project in June this year, the Noida Authority is procrastinating on the work citing some reason or the other. 

The delay in the construction of the foot over-bridge causing disquiet among the commuters awaiting a lasting solution to traffic congestion on the road. Apart from being a flashpoint of traffic jams, the crossing poses a grave risk to lives and limbs of to the pedestrians crossing the busy road.

Talking to CitySpidey, Abhay Pandey, a daily commuter on the route, lamented, "Though the authorities know full well that the proposed foot over-bridge is extremely crucial for the traffic flow, nothing has been done after the completion of the tender process."

Accidents take place here routinely. Pandey squarely blames laxity of the authority for the mishaps. 

While putting up a divider, the Noida Authority was warned against opening a cut by the people. However, they went ahead to open the cut under the influence of local traders. This has added to the traffic congestion.

The commuters and residents of sector 66 have been raising the demand for the FOB at Mamura intersection for long to manage the merging traffic from sectors 52, 62,65 and 66. Traffic snarls have become a daily routine especially near the underpass of sector 59.

Sushil Kumar Jain, president of the market association of sector 18, said, "There are many places in Noida, like Mamura, Greater Noida Expressway and all metro stations on the aqua line, where a FOB is urgently needed. But the authority is only approving FOBs where they could get advertisement or on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis."

As regards the FOB in question, KK Agarwal, general manager of the Noida Authority told CitySpidey that the work on the project would start as soon as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and Environment Pollution ( Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) guidelines banning construction are withdrawn.

"The contractor has not been able to conduct any test because of the ban on construction. The work on the FOB will start as soon as the ban is removed," he said.

Meanwhile, the Progressive Community Foundation, a social forum formed by the residents of Noida wrote to chief executive officer Noida Authority Ritu Maheshwari requesting her to build FOB in all those places where it is required including Mamura.

In a letter, they requested the authority to carry out a survey on pedestrians in the city and make FOBs at the appropriate places to check accidents on the road.