Jamshedpur: It is once again a bone-rattling ride on a 6km stretch of NH-33 between Baliguma and Pardih, on the fringes of the steel city, that was repaired for a whopping Rs 21 crore seven months ago.
The entire length of the road from Dimna roundabout in Mango, which is a kilometre from Baliguma, to the Kali Mandir in Pardih is riddled with water-filled craters that mock repairs done by a private contractor hired by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in December last year.
The highway hosts heavy traffic, with trucks and trailers ferrying consignments from Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Bengal to Ranchi and other districts of Jharkhand, and bottlenecks are routine.
Jamshedpur West MLA and state food and civil supplies minister Saryu Roy calls it the "worst leg" of NH-33. "One feels embarrassed to discuss the condition of this road. I have to travel (to Ranchi) at least twice every fortnight and suffer from back pain every time despite using an SUV (which has better suspension than ordinary cars)," he said.
Roy feels the Jharkhand High Court order for a CBI probe into the slo-mo pace of NH-33 widening work between Ranchi and Jamshedpur may change things for the better. "I can see accountability being fixed against the concessionaire (Madhucon Projects), NHAI and banks," he added.
Upender Sharma, patron of Jamshedpur Bus Owners Association, said long-distance buses were once again being forced to take a 35km detour.
"After repairs last year, buses were using the Dimna-Pardih-Chandil stretch to commute between Ranchi and Jamshedpur. But, the craters resurfaced around the last week of June. Now, buses are plying via Kandra and Chowka because no one wants to risk a mechanical snag or worse, an accident," Sharma said.
Potholes and puddles are a bigger threat for motorists and bikers after sundown in the absence of adequate illumination on NH-33 here.
"I lost balance and almost fell while biking to Baliguma gurdwara. Fortunately, there was no heavy vehicle behind me," said retired Tata Motors executive Awtar Singh.
NHAI project director (Jamshedpur-Chandil) Ajay Sinha said they were aware of the nightmare. "We have floated tenders and work on plugging potholes and craters will commence from mid-August. We shall start bituminous work as soon as the rains subside in late September," he promised.
