Urban News

After decades of dithering, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has finally decided to send bulldozers to bring down the compound walls of official residences of top officials, including that of police commissioner, district collector, district judge and the Range Inspector General of Police.

The demolition, which according to top VMC officials was put on hold for number of times, will be part of the project to widen the road and give a facelift to Alkapuri. The civic body has now acquired more than 80 per cent of the required land for the project, both from government and private entities, and the remaining would be acquired soon. VMC sources said Alkapuri being the face of the city, pressure was mounting on the civic body to beautify it.

“But the major hurdle was the lack of space to widen the road. Nobody wanted to lock horns with different agencies and top district officials. So the issue was discussed on countless occasions but the project was put on hold,” an official said. But over the past one year, traffic problems mounted on the stretch, only worsening with the police blocking many intersections on Alkapuri Road.

Asked about the impending demolitions, Standing Committee chairman Dinesh Choksi said: “We will widen the entire Alkapuri Road as per the design prepared earlier. That would include demolition of government and private buildings as well. In all, we will spend Rs 3.5 crore on R C Dutt Road development and the project has already been passed in the Standing Committee meeting.” 

“At one point, there was a plan to construct a rail overbridge at Alkapuri underpass but land was not acquired and moreover, it was not possible to construct the bridge towards city area where several structures were coming in between,” said P M Patel, Executive Engineer (Bridges).

An official who is involved in the land acquisition said, “In the next few months, we will start the demolition drive.”