Patna: District magistrate Kumar Ravi on Friday focused on a major bottleneck for those travelling to Ara from Patna or vice versa: The Danapur Cantonment area.

There are three roads through the area, including one where cars cannot move at more than 20 kmph.

There are two other roads in cantonment that the villagers of Hatiyakandh, Sarai, Kathautiya, Hanumanganj, Chandmari and Lodipur use. These two roads, 2.06km in length, were to be shut. The villagers filed a petition in Patna High Court requesting not to close the two roads. The court asked the defence ministry to set up a committee and dispose of the matter within three months.

The defence ministry committee, in which officials from the army and the district administration were involved, recommended not to close the roads that pass through the firing range and training centre until an alternative road is provided to the villagers.

The defence ministry on August 12, 2016 issued the order not to close the roads for three years, and said within that period an alternative route must be planned.

Ravi on Friday instructed Danpur sub-divisional officer Sanjeev Kumar to chalk out the plan for an alternative road in the area.

"Instructions have been given to the Danapur SDO to work on plan to make alternative route for the villagers while holding a meeting with the villagers within one week," Ravi said on Friday. "As the defence ministry has ordered to provide AN alternative route, the SDO will interact with the villagers and on their suggestion and opinion, the final decision would be taken."

The Patna DM also asked the SDO to ensure that there is no problem of law and order while dealing with the issue and that the alternative route is found peacefully.

Finding an alternative is important because cars cannot move at more than 20kmph on the other route through the cantonment area, the 5km stretch that starts from Bari roundabout and ends at Naulakha Mandir. Overtaking is not allowed on that stretch; army jawans often punish speed limit violators by making them crawl on knees from one end to the other.

It takes around half an hour to cross the stretch by car.

"It is big pain while crossing the Danapur Cantonment," said Vinod Kumar, a regular commuter to Ara. "In other cities where there are army cantonments there no such restriction. This happens only in Bihar."

Danapur Cantonment, earlier known as Bankipore Cantonment, was shifted to its present place from the Bankipore area in 1967-68. The Danapur cantonment on the outskirts of Patna is the second oldest cantonment in the country after Barrackpore in Bengal.