Central body rejects plan for elevated BRTS corridor in A’bad

The National Monuments Authority, which reports directly to the Prime Minister's Office, has finally grounded the plans of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to build a three-km-long elevated corridor that was meant for passage of BRTS buses plying from Sarangpur to Dariapur gates.

The plan for the elevated corridor as part of second phase of BRTS project had been pending with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which was to secure approval from the Authority.

The proposal, sent by Ahmedabad Janmarg Ltd (AJL), the special purpose vehicle to implement and run BRTS project in the city, did not find favour with the Authority because the corridor would have passed by nearly Central body rejects plan for elevated BRTS corridor in A'bad half-a-dozen centrally protected monuments.

The provisions in the amended law on monuments are stringent and come directly under the purview of the Authority, which also has several other objections, according to professor H M Sivanand Swamy of CEPT University that is involved in the planning of the BRTS project.

The Ancient Monuments Act prohibits any kind of construction or change of plan within a 100-metre radius of a centrally protected monument. The proposed BRTS corridor would have come within this radius.

Confirming the development, Municipal Commissioner and ex-officio chairman of AJL, Dr Guruprasad Mohapatra, said they would have no option than to run the fleet on a corridor built on the ground only. "Since there was no other alternative left after the Authority's refusal for construction of the elevated corridor, we have dropped the idea and will now go ahead with building the corridor on the ground," he said.

Around Rs five lakh was spent on the initial survey and soil testing for the three-km-long corridor.

Mohapatra said a new design was being worked out for the stretch, which will at a later stage involve construction of a road overbridge to connect Naroda with Kalupur or Odhav with Sarangpur.

... contd.

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