Minister for Transport, PWD and Environment Rajesh Munat on Monday informed the Chhattisgarh Assembly that the road fatalities on the Raipur-Jagdalpur National Highway is not on account of trees along the road but due to rash driving.
In his reply during a calling attention motion to the ruling party member Santosh Bafna, the Minister stated that the tree trunks had been painted on the highway and studs had been put on trees which illuminate at night. He said that the tarred breadth of the National highway is 7 metres and there is no tree on the tarred area. ‘It is true that three decades back, the National Highway 30 (which was State Highway 43) was single lane between Raipur and Jagdalpur,' he said.
When the Raipur-Jagdalpur highway was double laned, the tarred breadth of the road became 7 metres besides having a mud strip of 2.50 metres each on either side of the road which makes the total breadth of the road to 12 metres now. ‘Previously, there were some old trees on the mud strip’, he said.