Gaighat, August 29

Started about two years ago, completion of black-topping of the Gaighat-Diktel road section has been in limbo as the companies have stopped working due to lack of construction materials.

Despite frequent extensions of contract, the companies have failed to resume work after a ban was put in place by the government against mining of river products. Project engineer Kamal Yadav bemoaned the delay in resumption of work this year too. “We renewed the tender this year too, but we have been unable to resume work because of the rains,” said Yadav.

Of the total 131-km length of Gaighat-Diktel road, the road project is getting it blacktopped in different phases. Out of 74 kilometres in Udayapur, only two km has been black-topped so far. As work has failed to resume, a lot of budget is being frozen every fiscal. After the track was opened about five years ago, vehicles have been regularly plying on the road.