While the construction work of 1,000 km-long Ranchi-Vijayawada National Highway No 220 is very much in progress, it has created worries among the people of Rairangpur, the second most important town of Mayurbhanj.
According to the present plan and proposal, the fast-progressing National Highway is going to pass through and tear into the densely-populated areas of Rairangpur, many here feel, the number of accidents is likely to rise alarmingly and normalcy is sure to be disturbed in this otherwise-peaceful municipal area.
The conscious citizens of the town have now, therefore, come together to protest against this and come up with an alternative proposal of constructing a bypass road through the outskirts of Rairangpur.
Recently, a delegation of the Rairangpur Nagarik Suraksha Manch led by its convenor and senior BJD leader Parthasarathi Kabi and comprising town’s leading citizens like senior lawyer Pankaj Das, Zila Parishad Member Jalen Barda, senior advocate Gourisankar Dutta and Sajid Hussaain met Mayurbhanj Collector Rajesh Prabhakar Patil in this regard and submitted to him a memorandum reflecting the concerns of the common men of Rairangpur. If, instead of building the much-required by-pass, the Highway is made to tear through the heart of the town, it will pass through those busy localities in which, apart from other important establishments, a number of educational institutions like Rairangpur Boys’ High School, Rairangpur Girls’ High School and Kanyashram, etc., are situated, leading to the possibility of a sudden rise in accidents and thus throwing normal life out of gear, they pointed out.
If the genuine concerns of the Rairangpur people are not properly addressed and the by-pass construction work does not start in right earnest, they warned to take recourse to mass agitation.
It is worth-mentioning here that the Vijayawada-Ranchi National Highway passes through Mayurbhanj’s two other towns as well. They are Karanjia, a sub-divisional headquarters town, and Bahalda, a Block headquarters town. But, in both the cases, having taken into consideration different factors including public concern over the issue, the authorities have readied by-passes to accommodate the NH No 220 so that things inside the two townships of Karanjia and Bahalda remain as usual. A similar reasonable approach should be adopted towards Rairangpur also, enlightened circles in the district opined.