THE LAST ROAD

18-km stretch is a mixture of stone and moraine or poor concrete road with inadequate bitumen. There are six stretches where there is no discernable road at all — not even any soil filling to be seen.

At two places (along 1.5-km),only one side of the road has been built. What one could see along the stretch in the name of the company’s commitment to complete the project was heaps of soil on the roadside,used for no purpose other than as a makeshift sandpit for children. In 2006,Vats Constructions was awarded a contract of Rs 12.63 crore for the repair,widening and strengthening of Sitamarhi-Riga (9 km) and Riga-Dheng road projects. After the company pressed for full payment this April,the PWD engineer inspected the sites and doled out Rs 6 crore as the work was incomplete.

STRETCH: Sitamarhi-Dheng

TOTAL: 9 km

MOTORABLE: 3 km

As one starts from Sitamarhi town,there is plain cement concrete road (PCCR) for 1 km,followed by a single- or half-concrete stretch for 200 metres,then another PCCR road for another half kilometre. At Govindfanda,the PCCR ends and there is no road for 200 metres.

Residents said the contractor did not even fill in soil here. “There will be knee- to waist-deep water in the gap. We asked the contractor to bridge the gap but we were rebuked,” said Ajit Kumar,a villager.

While there is a 20-feet-wide concrete road until Bhavangama,its loose stone chips are exposed for lack of bitumen use. With some small gaps (no work),the journey to Riga is complete.

STRETCH: Riga-Dheng

TOTAL: 15 km

MOTORABLE: 3 km

Another road stretch from Riga to Dheng shows non-completion of even basic road construction or repair. There is brick-soling or stone-moraine road for 8 km. For anyone attempting to travel from Sitamarhi to Dheng,a bumpy ride lies ahead as there is no concrete road for 7 km. This is followed by 1 km of good road,but this smooth ride comes to an abrupt end with the absence of any construction work for 300 metres. In sum,there is only 3 km of “good motorable”road in the 9-km Riga-Dheng stretch.

Dr Rasnarain Jha of Dheng said,“Contractors are so influential that villagers cannot ask questions. They have curtailed road width,height and used bitumen in sprinkles”.

Pappu Singh,another Dheng villager,said they were relieved that contractor Kishore Singh’s company was blacklisted. He said one good rainy season would wash off roads made by him.

Kishore Singh,however,had completed work on Riga-Parsauni and Sasaula-Apta Road on time,but he was rushing through his third (Sitamarhi-Riga-Dheng) project.

Executive engineer Pandey had been monitoring 25 road projects including 13 major projects worth Rs 200 cr (about 400 km). He had got work completed on 12 projects in time.

Incidentally,Rajendra Singh and Brothers,awarded three projects worth Rs 22 crore,also failed to meet the deadline. The company also feared it would be blacklisted by Pandey and contractor Tunna Singh is also under the CBI scanner.

A colleague of the deceased engineer said,“Pandey was a hard taskmaster. Contractors could not coax him into making advance payment. His principle was simple — inspect a road and make or stop payment”.