Ranchi: The last few months have been harrowing for the residents of Harmu Housing Colony because of dust pollution caused by road repairs and unruly traffic.

Although work on the kilometre-long stretch of Harmu Road was scheduled to end in November, untimely bill payments and irregular supply of raw materials has delayed the project indefinitely.

Due to the hold-up, residents have been forced to inhale dust and carbon dioxide emitted by speeding commercial and private vehicles that ply through the residential area without any hindrance.

Sita Devi, a homemaker, said walking on the road has become too risky an affair because of pollution and vehicles. "There is always the fear of accident and lung infection and the civic authorities have stopped paying attention. On January 1, a 12-year-old boy was hit by a speeding motorbike on the road which has no speed-breakers," she said while expressing concern over the delay in completion of the road project.

Nobody seems to really know why the project was getting delayed. "A few days ago, municipal commissioner Shantanu Agrahari inspected the locality and expressed concern over the quality of road. Apparently, after being dissatisfied with the quality of materials used for the project, he has ordered that work be stopped till quality tests were done," ward 37 councillor Arun Kumar Jha said.

When Agrahari was contacted, he asked this reporter to get in touch with the executive engineer concerned. "It is difficult for me to keep in mind the details of every project. Kindly contact the executive engineer," Agrahari said.

Executive engineer Uma Shanker Ram assured work would be over this month.

Project contractor Rana Pratap Singh said cash crunch was the main reason for the delay. "I have spent Rs 27 lakh for the work so far. But RMC has not cleared my bills. The moment bills are cleared, work will be completed," he said.

It will take hardly three to five days to finish the job. The project included road widening, culvert construction and black-topping. Widening is complete and culverts have been constructed. Only black-topping is left," Singh said.