Patna, April 20: If you are driving into Bihar after seven long years you have reasons to crib as well as cheer. First, the good news: You can stop worrying about traffic coming from the opposite direction given that two-lane roads have gone up from 200km to around 3,000km. Smooth driving into the state highways too — up from 2,109km to 4,857km.
It’s great going till you hit the national highway. In the past two years, availability for every one lakh population has actually shrunk — from 3.99km in 2010 to 3.59km now. In fact, the state — with 3,734km of national highways — is 26th (see chart) among 28 states in terms of availability of national highways for every one lakh population.
“We have been raising this point for the past several years, but the Centre has not paid any heed,” state road construction department minister Nand Kishore Yadav said.
The department had written to the ministry of road transport and highways in 2010, urging them to notify 2690.95km of roads in the state as national highways. But only 466.71km of roads were added.
This takes the length of national highways in Bihar to 4,200.71km and the corresponding figure for every one lakh population to 4.04 km. That would also take Bihar to 25th place. “But work to upgrade the newly notified roads to the standard of national highways is yet to be undertaken. So, effective availability of national highways per lakh population remains 3.59km,” said an official of the department.
Yadav also criticised the Centre for step-motherly treatment to Bihar when it came to taking NHs under National Highways Development Project (NHDP), which upgrade existing NHs by rehabilitating and widening these roads. “Even though Bihar is the third most populous state, with a very high traffic density on national highways, in terms of national highways taken under NHDP the state stands at ninth,” Yadav said.
Ruling out the possibility of adding to national highways in Bihar in the near future, a senior official of National Highways Authority of India said: “Given that the country is facing a funds crunch, states would have to look for private investment or procure loans for improving the road sector.”