Speed breakers turn back breakers on Cuttack-Chandbali state highway

CUTTACK: The sudden emergence of speed breakers and rumblers on the Cuttack-Chandbali state highway in the last week of December, causing a number of mishaps on the busy road, has got the Roads and Buildings department in a tizzy.

Though the department has gotten into the act and removed most of the humps, it is still in the dark about how they were constructed and who did it. According to reports, as many as 27 rumblers came up almost overnight on the 17 km stretch of the state highway from Jagatpur to Bahugram. They were constructed using chips and bitumen. 

As no warning signages were displayed near the speed breakers, they caused mishaps. A pregnant woman delivered a baby boy on way to SCB Medical College and Hospital in an ambulance due to jolts received on the road near Paga on December 29. Earlier, a biker had lost control and rammed into a private bus after skidding over the speed breaker near Bhairpur. 

Following the hue and cry by locals, the Roads and Buildings department removed 23-speed breakers on the highway using an excavator on December 30. Still, there are four-speed breakers near Paga and Nrusingha Bazaar.  Superintending engineer, Roads & Buildings, Cuttack Division-2 Anup Kumar Behera said he was unaware of the construction of the speed breakers on the road. “We don’t know who constructed the speed breakers. We are removing them as they were constructed illegally,” he said. 

The department will apply thermoplastic road marking paint at the spots where the speed breakers were constructed. A report from the local Roads and Buildings sub-division officer has been sought to ascertain as to how and by whom the humps were constructed, added Behera. 

Senior lawyer BK Nayak, who sought a probe into the matter said if the speed breakers were constructed illegally without the Roads and Buildings department’s knowledge, it proves the road can be dug or blocked anytime. “We do not understand why the superintending engineer is not filing an FIR with the police in this regard,” he said.