Stranded vehicles during the road blockade in Sambalpur. Telegraph picture

Sambalpur, Oct. 17: Local residents today blocked National Highway-53 for more than two hours at Bareipali demanding repair of the stretch of the highway from Sambalpur to Bargarh.

“The national highway is in a bad shape. The stretch of the highway from Sambalpur to Bargarh is full of potholes. Because of the negligence of the authorities concerned, the commuters and people are suffering,” said Pramod Rath, convener of Amar Sambalpur, which led the agitation.

“The bad condition of the road is the reason behind accidents on this stretch. We want the authorities to take urgent measures to repair the road,” he added. Pramod Saraf, protester and a member of Amar Sambalpur, said: “The indifferent attitude of the authorities compelled us to resort to road blockade. A few days ago, we had gheraoed the office of the executive engineer of the national highway division demanding a solution to the problem. But the officials said they had handed over the road to the National Highways Authority of India.”

Executive engineer of national highway division, under the public works department, Pradip Kumar Sutar confirmed that the road had been handed over to the NHAI.

“The highway authority should repair the road. We don’t have any funds for the repair,” he said. Earlier, people of Bargarh had also blocked the national highway in Bargarh demanding repair of the same road.

Sureswar Satpathy, president of Bargarh District Displaced Welfare Society, who was present at the spot, said: “The entire stretch from Sambalpur to Bargarh is in a bad shape. We have blocked the road several times in Bargarh. The officials had assured us that they would repair the road. But later they forgot their promise.”

The agitators, however, withdrew the road blockade following assurances from the sub-collector.

“I have discussed the matter with the project director of the National Highway Authority of India over the phone. The repair work of the road will begin tomorrow. The work will be completed within 15 to 20 days,” said sub-collector Satyananda Jena.