Kendrapara: The 12-km Dandamunda Chowk-Indupur Road, the main road that links several panchayats in Kendrapara block, is now in bad shape with numerous potholes and ditches.
Sources said that around 15,000 people and hundreds of four-wheelers and trucks use the Dandamunda-Indupur Road daily for reaching almost a dozen gram panchayats in Kendrapara and Derabish blocks.
The road has become dangerous with bikers and pedestrians facing accidents regularly due to potholes. Many lives have been lost on this road which comes under the R&B Department.
Every day students of Nikirai College, the Indupur-based Birupa College, the Kendrapara Autonomous College, Tulashi Women’s College and the Kendrapara Evening College, face lots of problems while travelling on this road.
Many school children also use this road to go to the Barimula-based Kendriya Vidyalaya, said Ganeswar Sahu, a Plus Three Third year student of Nikirai College.
The Dandamunda Chowk-Indupur Road is the only road that goes to the Kendrapara district headquarters, block office, tehsil office and the District Headquarters Hospital. People also use this road to go to Bari block in Jajpur district.
The road has turned into a death trap as the authorities have not shown any interest in repairing it, said Sahadev Sahu, a resident of Indupur.
Continuous neglect has made things worse. Even if there is a slight drizzle people face lots of problems as the ditches on the road turn mini-ponds, said Charan Rout of Nahanga.
The road was repaired by R&B Department several times in the past. But due to the unholy nexus between the contractor and officials of the R&B Department most of the money meant for repairing was siphoned off.
The public has now threatened to launch a stir to get the road repaired, Prasant Kumar Samal, a local said.
The Deputy Executive Engineer of R&B-1, Bijayananda Das, said the department is aware about the road’s condition.
“A tender was called for repairing the road. Two contractors applied, but they were disqualified and the road could not be repaired. The re-tender process has started. After that work would commence in January. The estimate for repairing the road is Rs 6.30 crore,” he added.
PNN