Gaighat, August 28

The road upgradation work along Jaljale-Chuhade-Bhantabari road in Udayapur has yet to be completed and the road has already started to fall out of shape.

The road-widening drive and black-topping of the 880-metre road stretch started about three months ago with little more than 10 per cent work left, but the black-topping has started to peel off.

Gambhir Danuwar, a local,  blamed the contractor for the run-down road. “We complained about the work to different offices but to no avail. Now the road is in sorry state well before it is built,” he lamented, accusing the contractor of using sub-standard sand and gravel.

Further, locals have also suspected collusion of staff in the Division Road Office, Lahan, with the contractor. “There is clearly a nexus between the road office and the contractors,” said local Ganga Chaudhary.

The road project was jointly started by Development Construction Service and Jalpa Construction. A representative of the contractor company Keshav Acharya denied any wrongdoing. “We’ve worked as per the estimate. Heavy rainfall has damaged the road at places, they will be repaired,” he said.

Though Rs 30 million was allocated for the road, the contractors had won the contract bidding Rs 23 million against the allocated Rs 30 million. Engineer Chitrajan Yadav, site in-charge of the road project, disavowed any knowledge about the project saying he was out of station.

Division Road Office Chief Ram Kumar Dev admitted a few lapses in the road construction. “As the site in-charge was not present, there might have been some lapses; I’ve directed the contractor to repair the road,” he said.