Cuttack: Orissa High Court has sought a reply from the state government on a PIL seeking its intervention against the delay in completing the Rs 373-crore Cuttack-Chandabali state highway project.

While issuing the notice on May 17, the court also asked the government to reply on the use of poor quality construction material and work, as has been alleged in the petition.

The PIL assumes significance as the proposed 105km highway is one of the busiest roads in the state with people of four districts - Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur and Bhadrak and Cuttack - depending on it to reach Bhubaneswar.

Former Odisha State Bar Council chairman Dharanidhar Nayak filed the PIL seeking a high court direction to the government "to monitor and supervise the quality of construction work and ensure the completion of the project in a time bound manner".

The petition, filed in last August, came up for hearing for the first time on May 17. "After a preliminary hearing, the division bench of Chief Justice Vineet Saran and Justice B.R. Sarangi posted the matter to after eight weeks, along with the government's reply," petitioner counsel Khirod Rout said.

"The court has also issued notice a to the engineer-in-chief and works department secretary to file a response within six weeks. The court has also asked the petitioner to a file rejoinder within the next two weeks," Rout said.

In his petition, Nayak alleged that the progress to widen and strengthen the highway from Jagatpur in Cuttack to Chandbali in Bhadrak with the World Bank assistance was slow. The petition also alleged that quality of construction was poor.

Though the project had started in December 2013 and was scheduled to be completed by March 2016, its implementation has been significantly delayed, causing inconvenience to the people of Kendrapara, Cuttack, Bhadrak, and Jagatsinghpur districts, Nayak alleged.

He sought the court's direction to an independent agency to conduct an inquiry into the quality of work, materials, specifications and the road safety provisions and take action against any wrongdoers within a stipulated time.

According to the petition, over 25,000 vehicles ply on the Jagatpur-Chandabali stretch daily, and the road's condition is a threat to thousands of commuters and patients, who are referred by periphery and district headquarters hospitals to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.

Once completed, the road will ease traffic on the route, the petitioner said.