The Sewati hills. (Pankaj Singh)

The forest department has finally cleared the construction of a road between Pirgul and Sewati hills, a longstanding demand of residents of villages in Kasmar, Jaridih and Petarwar blocks in Bokaro district who find it difficult to travel to Ranchi and neighbouring Bengal.

Bokaro district forest officer (DFO) Kumar Manish Arvind, who along with a team of three officials, have been visiting Sewati hills — at least thrice in the last fortnight — gave his approval on Wednesday.

“Seeing the difficulties being faced by the people of Kasmar, Petarwar and Jaridih blocks, an NOC has been issued by the forest department. This will pave the way for the construction of the road,” Arvind said.

Road connectivity between Pirgul and Sewati hills has been an age-old demand of the local villagers. Once the 11 km road is built, residents of the blocks that are now Maoist hubs will find it easier to travel to Ranchi and Muri with distances reduced by at least 20 km.

Border towns of Jalda and Purulia in neighbouring Bengal will also become more accessible. For, till now hundreds of labourers wanting to go to Bengal or other parts of Jharkhand, primarily Ranchi, would have to take either the Bokaro-Chas road or go to Radhagaon to reach the border.

After the formation of Jharkhand in 2000 and the sudden escalation in Maoist activities in the Jhumra and Gomia zones, successive deputy commissioners of Bokaro, namely, Vimal Kirti Singh, R.S. Verma, Rajesh Agrawal, Amrendra Partap Singh, Pravin Toppo, Satyendra Singh, and SPs Tadasha Mishra, Anil Palta, R.K Mallick, M.S. Bhatia, Saket Singh and Laxman Singh had strongly advocated the construction of a road on the Sewati hills which had become a safe exit rout for the rebels.

According to deputy commissioner Sunil Kumar, the NOC would help immensely. As of now, a road connects Jumra village to Pirgul. But a new road from Pirgul to Sewati will make travelling to Silli, Muri and Ranchi far easier for those living in the border areas of Bokaro.

“Construction work will start after the pujas. We will try to complete the road by March next year,” he said.