ALMOST ALL ROADS ARE IN DILAPIDATED CONDITION

ALMOST ALL ROADS ARE IN DILAPIDATED CONDITION

29-OCT-ENG 8

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA----------------------------Almost all roads in Ara, headquarters of Bhojpur district have become a death trap and people and even drivers are facing a lot of problems in commuting them. Ara town is now being identified with the name of ‘town of Gadhdhewala.’

The roads from Tribhuani Kothi near Ara railway station to Judge Kothi via K G Road are quite deplorable. Even the roads from Chandawa to the railway over bridge are also quite pathetic and are causing a lot of inconvenience in transportation as well as to the pedestrians but the officials concerned have turned a Nelson’s eye towards this problem and have not repaired the roads so far. Roads from Ara railway station to Krishi Bhawan via Sone Bhawan to BDO block to LDM office of the Punjab National Bank in Adarsh Colony including the roads from Sone Bhawan to Nawada police station are filled with ditches and are in dilapidated condition despite the fact the senior officials of the district pass through these roads daily. Even the resident of Bhojpur SP is situated on side of the road but no action is being taken to repair them and the residents of Ara and even the Bhojpur district are forced to bear this brunt.

Though the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and even the Bhojpur district administration boasted about the good roads but the ground realities belied their tall claims and the roads are in poor condition despite spending of crores of rupees on roads every year.

As per the rules of the Road Construction Department, the roads should be repaired on a regular basis so that roads remain in good condition and people face no problem in communicating them but in absence of proper maintenance of roads and indifferent attitude of the concerned officials, the roads are in deplorable condition and roads are filled with small and big potholes.

Roads are dug for laying underground water pipes, gas pipes and even electric lines but nothing has so far been completed and the roads were left dug and neither the department bother to repair the roads.

As per the government figures, at least 17 major roads are in the Ara Municipal area. Apart from this, many other roads are also there which are not repaired by the Road Construction Department. People had made clamour regarding the dilapidated roads and use of inferior quality materials and allegations were leveled against the former AMC officials, Ward Councilors and contractors. To hush up the matter, an inquiry committee was formed on the instruction of local MP cum energy minister, to investigate the irregularities in the lacks of rupees provided by the Town Development Department for the construction of road, however till now the officers included in the inquiry committee have been transferred to other place and the matter was covered up and no action has so far been taken in this regard and even lakhs of rupees of public’s hard-earned money were not realized. Cosmetic repair of some roads was done as eyewash but other roads were left to as ever.

The local MP and the MLA claim several development works in Ara and on this basis they were hoping to contest the forthcoming parliamentary election in 2024 and assembly election in 2025 once again successfully but the local residents are agitated against them and they may face rough weather in the election this time.