Traffic on the busy National Highway-5 in Jajpur district is in deplorable state as road jam is its permanent feature. And the prime offenders being thousands of iron laden trucks.
While those driving and riding personal vehicles have no option but to swelter it out till the blockade is cleared, those travelling by public transport get off in disgust and prefer to walk, said Ranjan Pradhan, a car driver of Jajpur.
"The traffic jam stretches for miles and leaves thousands of truckers stay put for days together. At time traffic snarl on the NH stretches for 65 km between Jajpur Road and Balichandrapur. The massive number of trucks turns the highway into a virtual parking lot. On an average, the expressway experiences at least ten traffic jams in a month," said Bikash Sahoo, a truck driver.
"NH-5 now has the dubious distinction of spawning the State's longest traffic jam. And it's all directly attributable to the slipshod attitude of the administration," said Samir Sahoo, a trader.
District truck owners’ association president Umesh Singh alleged that due to plying of thousands of iron-laden trucks from the mines of Keonjhar to port town Paradip covering about 200 km on NH-5 and 5(A), frequent traffic jam and damaging of the road take place.
last year, the District Collectors of Kendrapada, Jajpur and Keonjhar and other senior officials including the RDC (Central) had organised a joint meeting at the port town of Paradip to solve the traffic problem. It was decided in the meeting that the district administration of Keonjhar will allow only 1,700 trucks daily to carry iron ore from Keonjhar to Paradip at evening hours to avoid traffic\\ jam. But more than three thousand trucks daily carry iron ores on the route, he added.
Due to road blockade, thousands of vehicles are stranded on the NH, while the port authorities at Paradip suffer huge losses. This year, at least 430 persons were killed and 622 suffered injuries in the road accidents on the NH, he informed.
When contacted, RTO Prahlad Kumar Behera of Chandkhol said, “We are raiding illegal ore transport. Besides, we have deployed officials to monitor and check the illegal movement of the vehicles.”