Concerned over plight of NH 33 State Food and Civil Supplies Minister Saryu Roy has decided to take up the cause of construction of elevated corridor along the 4 km stretch of Dimna and Pardih in Mango along NH-33 to the doors of Union Road, Transport and Highway Minister Nitin Gadkari and chairman National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) N. N Sinha.
The decision was taken after a two-hour long meeting with officials of NHAI, drinking water and sanitation department, Mango Notified Area Committee (MNAC- Mango civic body), East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Ravi Shankar Shukla and minister Saryu Roy, who is also the Jamshedpur West MLA (Mango comes under this constituency) at the Circuit House this afternoon.
“We have decided that along the 160 km long NH-33 stretch between Ranchi and Jamshedpur the road width is 60 meters whereas the road width between Dimna and Pardih along NH-33 is only 45 km. This apart, the road side drains, a crucial component on this stretch for evacuation of rain water flowing from Dalma along this stretch, has only one meter width. I would be meeting the Union minister and NHAI chairman on October 22 to apprise the problem and ensure elevated corridor cost is borne by NHAI,” said Saryu Roy briefing after the meeting.
Sources who attended the meeting informed that NHAI officials and private firm Ahmedabad-based Iron Triangle (which is undertaking the widening work on 44.20 km stretch between Saherbera in Chandil and Mohulia near Jamshedpur at a cost of Rs 380-crore) expressed their inability to bear the expense of the elevated corridor which would be in excess of Rs 300 crore.
National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) had ordered Ahmedabad-based private firm to fill up potholes along NH-33 stretch between Dimna Chowk and Pardih in Mango on an urgent basis to avoid inconvenience to commuters during puja festivity.
A local resident said that the rising cases of mishaps on the rise at 100-kms-long stretch from Pardih to Baharagora on the NH-33 is really shocking. With Monsoon rains, water clogging on the road has added to the woes.
In the last one decade the rise of vehicles particularly, four wheelers have registered manifold increase with each family possessing at least, two-wheeler on an average.
However, the darker side of the picture is that annually above thousand road accidents are taking place in and around the city and four to five accidents (including small and moderate accidents) daily on an average in which more than 100 odd people are losing their lives. It is high time that steps are taken to curb the situation.
A lorry driver who makes at least 10 trips on this stretch a month, said even drivers of heavy vehicles like his find it challenging to negotiate the stretch.
Broken axles and suspension system have been the common complaints from drivers and owners of heavy vehicles even as toppling of lorries was a regular phenomenon, he said. The bitumen surface on the ghat stretch has almost worn out and craters have surfaced on the road. Heavy vehicles and commercial vans usually develop broken axle and damage to wheel base due to the craters on the road.
