Now, travel from Wardhaman Ngr to Pardi Naka in 6 mins

Nagpur: Nine years of perseverance paid off when three of the five arms of Pardi flyover — touted as Vidarbha’s longest — opened for traffic on Tuesday.
The travel time from Wardhaman Nagar Colony on Old Bhandara Road to Pardi forest check post has come down from 30 minutes to only six minutes. At times, people used to spend almost an hour to cover the distance of 4 kilometres, but not anymore.
BJP state president Chandrashekar Bawankule, accompanied by East Nagpur MLA Krishna Khopde, BJP city president Jitendra Kukde and other party workers inaugurated the flyover’s three arms -- Wardhaman Nagar colony on Old Bhandara road, forest check post after Pardi and Kalamna APMC Market square on Inner Ring Road.
Bawankule created a bit of controversy when he rode a two-wheeler on the flyover with Khopde as pillion without wearing a helmet. Majority of BJP workers too were seen driving without helmets, but they did not face any action.
Former BJP corporator Pradip Pohane told TOI, “The flyover will be very helpful for hundreds of people residing in Pardi and adjoining areas and those going towards Bhandara or Raipur. Earlier, it used to take at least 30 minutes to one hour to travel this stretch of four kilometer. On Tuesday, I covered the distance in just 5 minutes.”
Khopde said the remaining two arms, the railway over bridge and under bridge, will open on January 26.
“About 80% of vehicles on this road will bypass the market areas below, giving much relief to the local residents,” Khopde said.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari had sanctioned Rs 700 crore for the project in 2014. PM Narendra Modi had performed the bhoomipujan for the same in August 2014. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) took nine years to partially complete the work, which was supposed to be done in two years.