Bhagalpur: Traffic on NH-80 was disrupted from Sunday evening after the diversion near Vaina bridge was inundated due to floodwater from the Ganga. It also threw traffic out of gear between Bhagalpur and Kahalgaon.

The administration has diverted traffic flow from east to Bhagalpur from Trimuhan near Kahalgaon after students of Bihar College of Engineering, Bhagalpur, blocked NH-80 on Saturday near their college for more than five hours in protest against the dilapidated condition of the road.

According to Bhagalpur divisional commissioner Rajesh Kumar, traffic towards Bhagalpur has been diverted from Trimuhan and one has to cover 120km to enter the town via neighbouring Godda in Jharkhand and Dhakamore in Banka.

The construction of Vaina bridge across the Garua has not been completed for the past five years. NH-80 passes through it but in 2017, when the temporary diversion of NH-80 was submerged, it was said the bridge will be completed within the next one month.

A year on, however, nothing has been done.

An official of Dayal Construction, a Patna-based company, which was earlier assigned to complete the construction work of the bridge costing around Rs 10.22 crore, however, said it will take time for completing the work. Not a single official from the administration was available to comment on what action they had initiated against the construction company for failing to meet the deadline.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Bhagalpur, Ashish Bharti, said the condition of the stretch from Zero Mile, Bhagalpur, to Ghogha of the NH-80 is the worst-affected. "We already have diverted traffic to Bhagalpur from east and traffic to Kahalgaon from west on it for repairing work," he said. On July 28, the students of BCE, Bhagalpur, put up a blockade on NH-80 which passes beside their college, and the administration had to assure them to repair it immediately.

"After diverting , now people have to cover an addition 120km and Bhagalpur has to face heavy traffic flow as both up and down traffic would have to pass on the NH-80 which passes through the heart of Bhagalpur. The city which already facing massive traffic snarls, would have to face more problems," said Md Sarfaraj Ahmad, a travel agency operator.

Till the filing of this report, divisional commissioner Rajesh Kumar was not available for comment as he had been conducting a high-level meeting on the traffic problem with officials concerned.