Construction of Ajanta road in slow pace prompts collector for on-the-inspection

Aurangabad:

The district collector A K Pandey will review the progress of the ongoing construction of the Aurangabad-Jalgaon Highway on Thursday.

The G20 delegation is visiting the city on February 13 and 14. The delegation will be visiting various heritage sites and tourist places including the world heritage site Ajanta Caves during their stay. Hence to assess the actual quantity of work left, the collector will be inspecting the works and ensure that the work speeds up before February. It is said that 20 per cent of road work is incomplete. Ironically, the work of developing a 148-km long road was supposed to be completed in two years, but even after five years, it is lying incomplete.

It is learnt that there are a few hurdles in widening the road from Harsul to the old Central Octroi Checkpost. Adding to the woes, the fund of Rs 16 crore required for land acquisition and then widening the road (to clear the bottleneck in Harsul) has not been received, so far. However, the road has to be done at any cost before the visit of G20 delegation’s visit.

The widening is pending from Harsul T-Point and ahead, the road is incomplete at many spots; construction of the parapet wall in the Ajanta Ghat is yet to be done or the work at Chowka, Bilda and ahead till Sillod is underway, but at slow speed.

Earlier, the district collector issued an order to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) stating to improve the condition of Ajanta Road on December 14. The order stated to start road works between Sillod and Fardapur from December 20; complete the works pending at six points between Aurangabad and Sillod; complete the road work of Chowka Ghat; concretisation of the road passing through Phulambri; install direction boards and instruction boards for vehicles with radium etc. The order stated to complete all the mentioned works by December 30. Hence the collector will inspect the work done after the issuance of the order.