Joda: Traffic jam on NH-520 Saturday turned so severe at Bileipada, Joda, Bhadrasahi and Barbil in Keonjhar district that thousands of mineral-laden trucks, dumpers, trailers, buses, vans, auto rickshaws and bikes were lying stranded. An unpleasant situation sprung up at Joda when buses carrying schoolchildren got stuck in the traffic snarl for hours.
Students of DAV School (Joda) could not reach the school. They had to sit at Bileipada outpost. Their guardians managed to take their kids out of the bus and stayed at the outpost.
Similar situation was witnessed at Bhadrasahi where a school bus returning to drop children at their homes had got stuck for hours. Tired and hungry, some of them started crying.
Traffic jobs have become routine on this route, giving nightmares to locals and commuters every day.
In the past, Collector, Champua sub-Collector, IICs of Joda, Bamebari, Rugudi, Bileipada and Barbil had held talks with Joda deputy director of mines for streamlining the mineral transportation on the route, but to no avail.
Traffic jams also cause a lot of inconvenience for patients going to hospitals on the route.
Reports said that expansion of the National Highway is going on. The work also involves construction of some bridges on the route.
It is learnt that diversions have been made at different places. Heavy vehicles negotiating diversion roads take a long time, leading to traffic snarls.
Many passengers in a bus expressed their anger over regular traffic jams and slow pace of NH expansion.
PNN