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| The under-construction road in Rajiv Nagar in Patna. Picture by Ashok Sinha |
Patna, May 16: The proposed 850m road in Rajiv Nagar locality has not been completed even after five months of its deadline.
The delay in completion of less than a kilometre stretch has not only made the lives of around 50,000 residents miserable but also adversely affected trade and commerce. The business volume in the area has decreased by 50 per cent in recent months.
The construction work of the road, which started in mid-December should have been completed within a month-and-half but unfortunately, the public works department (PWD) could complete just 400m of the stretch in four-and-a-half months.
The stretch has around a dozen manholes, which have been kept open, triggering frequent accidents.
The residents of the area, who have to take a longer route to reach their destinations, are quite agitated over the delay in the completion of the work. The reason for the delay in the construction of the road can be gauged from the fact that negligible supervision of work is carried out. A junior engineer, who is entrusted the supervision job, was not present on the site when The Telegraph visited the area. Only a Grade IV employee of the PWD was present. Ravindra Kumar Singh, an advocate at Patna High Court and a resident of road no. 21 in Rajiv Nagar, said: “The delay in road construction has made my life miserable. The contractor should start concrete cementing in the night instead of day time.”
“A 23-ft road has to be laid on the stretch but not a single encroachment has been removed despite the executing agency putting a red mark on the encroached land of the road,” Singh said.
Vijay Jha, a resident of road no. 21, said: “Traffic movement has been badly affected. People of this area have to take a long route via Ashiana or Digha Road.”
Sanjay Singh, a resident of road no. 8 of the area, was livid over inadequate ratio of mixture of cement: concrete: sand. “Since morning, neither the junior engineer nor any officer of PWD is present at the site. The contractor is not following the adequate ratio of mixing cement, concrete and sand. Where is your contractor? Call him or I will complain to the road construction secretary Pratyaya Amrit,” Singh said while venting his ire on the contractor’s munshi. Shopowners, in particular, are quite a harried as the delay in completion of the road has badly affected the trade and business in the area.
Sanjay Kumar Sinha, a medicine shop-owner, said: “Our business has been affected at least by 50 per cent. People prefer to go to the main market instead of coming to the local market because of the ongoing construction work.” Asked about the reasons behind the delay in completion of the road, Laxmikant Patel , an executive engineer with PWD, told The Telegraph: “It was a very narrow and high road. Besides discharge of water from drains on to the road lead to the delay. Though it should have been completed much earlier, we will ensure that the work is completed latest by June end.”
When pointed out that half of constructed road has open manholes which are causing many accidents, the engineer said: “We have decided to put an iron net on the manhole, which will take another 12-15 days but as a stop gap arrangement, we will put up a red flag to caution people about danger.”