Residents demand wider service roads along NH-33

Jamshedpur: The work of widening National Highway-33, which links Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha, hit a fresh hurdle after residents of Dimna and Paridih here sought a change in the proposed plan.
Vikas Singh, a local resident and BJP worker, said, “As per the existing drawing of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), service roads on both sides of the national highway will be a mere 10feet wide. This would be inadequate for the movement of motorists and pedestrians.”
Singh said the residents have demanded wider service roads owing to the rise in population and vehicles in Paridih-Bhilaipahar area.
Locals also complained about the poor maintenance of the national highway. “The stretch of the highway between Dimna and Paridih has numerous potholes and it becomes difficult to drive on it during monsoon,” Pintu Kumar, an auto-rickshaw driver, said.
The deputy general manager of NHAI, Prabhat Kumar, said they are trying to complete the work in about a year.
“There was not much progress during the lockdown period. But work has now resumed and we hope to finish it by July next year,” he said.
Jamshedpur MP Bidyut Baran Mahato sided with the locals. “I will meet and personally request Union road transport and highway minister Nitin Gadkari to incorporate changes in the plan,” the MP said, adding that there was a need to construct a big drain near the Paridih-Dimna stretch to channel waste water in the area.
The widening work commenced in 2013 was supposed to be complete by November this year.