Motihari, April 14: The district magistrate of East Champaran has ordered an inquiry into the construction of a road-drain project worth about Rs 1.59 crore being carried out by the public works department (road division).

The inquiry was ordered in the first week of April after residents Bhawanipur Zirat (Rowing Club Road) locality submitted a public petition before the district magistrate, requesting the official to conduct spot verification and quality test of the material being used for the road construction.

The residents had alleged irregularities in the construction process and claimed that sub-standard materials were being used for the road.

Copies of the public petition had been sent to the chief minister on his official e-mail as well as through registered post and the same had also been sent to the minister and principal secretary of the road construction department.

A delegation of some local people met the executive engineer and sub-divisional officer of the department in February who had assured them of standard construction.

“The entire stretch is full of deformities. The important conditions according to the agreement have not been followed, whether it is the road, its flank, drain or its cover,” the public petition stated.

The construction of this project started in December last year and the deadline of the project was March 2011. The inquiry order is out but no government official has visited the spot for verification yet.