Commuters will heave a sigh of relief post the month of June as construction of the long awaited 26 Kilometres stretch of NH 23 from Kathal More to Palma village in Bero block is likely to be completed till then.
The work of construction of the four-lane from Kathal More to Bero via Nagri road started around a year ago and since then, commuting on the said road has become a huge problem.
“The dust on the road makes it very difficult to breathe or even see clearly while riding a bike. I often put on a mask when I am commuting on the road, fearing that in long run it might lead to asthma,” said Awdhesh Kumar, a commuter.
Apart from the dust, the road being filled with rubbles and sand makes it difficult for people to drive safely. “I fear that my motorcycle might skid due to the uneven, rubble filled road. The fear is not just falling down but the fact that as the road is commonly used by heavy vehicles, there are chances that if one falls down, they might come under one such vehicle,” said PC Thakur, a businessman who often commutes on the Ranchi-Nagri road.
However, now with more than 50 per cent work on the road being completed, the locals are looking forward to the completion of the entire work, claiming it will be beneficial for them in a number of ways.
Alok Kumar Kesari, who runs an accessories store on the Nagri road said, “Earlier the road here was two laned leading to a traffic jam most of the time as a number of heavy vehicles cross through here. However, now with most of the road here being four laned, commute has become really easy.”
Similarly, Ajay Kumar, another shopkeeper at Nagri said that the four laning of road will excessively reduce the commute time from Nagri to Ranchi.
“The commute time which usually took around an hour due to narrow and uneven roads will take only around 20 minutes after the entire construction is completed. The quality of the stretch of roads which have already been constructed looks very good and once completed the stretch would definitely be in a much better shape,” he said.
Regional officer of National Highways Authority of India, Vijay Srivastava informed that while initially the progress work was slow as utility movement and basic construction takes time, the remaining 50% of work will be completed in the next five months.
Talking about the phase two of construction of the road he said, “In the next phase, the plan is to construct four-lane on the Palma to Gumla road, the detailed project report for which is being prepared.”