Rohtak-Bawal road commuters’ bane

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Rewari, September 15

Potholed road from Rohtak to Bawal (National Highway 352) has turned into a death trap for commuters in the ongoing monsoon season. Vehicles overturn on the waterlogged stretch, especially underneath the flyover near the Police Lines here.

The issue has been raised by locals many times, but it seems that the National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI) is waiting for a major mishap to repair the road.

“The Rewari-Delhi road underneath the flyover on the highway turns into a water body even after moderate rain. Commuters fail to evade waterlogged potholes resulting in mishaps. Vehicles often get stuck in potholes and overturn injuring occupants. Recently, three vehicles, including a truck, tractor-trailer and car, overturned in a day on the stretch,” said Parveen Kumar, a resident.

Road turns into water body

The Rewari-Delhi road underneath the flyover on the highway turns into a water body even after moderate rain leading to mishaps. Parveen Kumar, a resident

Internal stretches broken

Some internal roads in the city are broken and the roads leading to Brass Market are teeming with potholes. Naresh Chauhan, an advocate

Tenders floated twice

Tenders were floated twice to repair the broken stretch of the

NH-352 near the police lines but no firm applied. Recently, we floated another tender. KM Sharma, project director, NHAI

He maintained a crane was pressed into service to remove vehicles on the road. Such incidents were in the knowledge of the district administrative authorities and the NHAI, but nothing was done to fill potholes to prevent mishaps in future, he added.

Naresh Chauhan, an advocate, said some internal roads in the city were also broken causing inconvenience to commuters.

“Roads leading to Brass Market are teeming with potholes while Maharana Pratap Chowk to Bhadawas Road, Outer Grain Market to Old Housing Board, Maharana Pratap Chowk to Rajeev Gandhi Chowk and several roads in the HSVP, Sector 1, 3 and 4 are also in a poor condition,” Chauhan added.

Meanwhile, Congress MLA Chiranjeev Rao has come up with a novel way to attract attention of the authorities concerned towards bad condition of roads by planting saplings in potholes under the National Highway-352 flyover near the Police Lines.

“By planting sapling, I express my resentment towards the lethargic attitude of the district authorities towards the burning issue. Thousands of vehicles pass through Rewari-Delhi Road every day. Unfortunately, no one is paying heed towards waterlogged potholes underneath the National Highway-352 flyover,” the MLA added.

KM Sharma, Project Director, NHAI, said tenders were floated twice to repair the broken stretch of the NH-352 near the Police Lines but no firm applied.

“Recently, we floated another tender and are hopeful of getting applications this time,” he added.

Action-taken report sought

Rohtak Deputy Commissioner Capt Manoj Kumar has reprimanded officials responsible for the disposal of rainwater and sought action-taken report from them within 24 hours. Chairing a meeting regarding rainwater disposal here on Monday, the Deputy Commissioner took a serious note of broken sewer manhole covers in the city. He pointed out that uncovered manholes on waterlogged roads could prove fatal for commuters. He warned officials concerned that they would be booked for unintentional murder under Section 304, IPC, if there was mishap on any waterlogged stretch.