PARADIP: Erroneous numbering of the National Highway stretching from Manguli to Dhinkia Nuagaon through Cuttack, Kandarpur, Jagatsinghpur, Balikuda and Erasama has left the locals confused and baffled.
Sources said though National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has officially declared the Cuttack-Nuagaon road as NH 55, the signages put up at different places call it as NH 45.
The NHAI has planned to extend the highway to Paradip through Dhinkia Nuagaon, which was earlier identified as Posco zone area and now, Jindal Steel project area after withdrawal of Posco steel project. This NH will connect the proposed Jindal Steel project area through Manguli, Cuttack, Kandarpur, Jagatsinghpur, Balikuda and Dhinkia-Nuagaon of Erasama to Paradip port.
The NHAI has hired a Bhubaneswar-based consultancy firm to prepare the detailed project report (DPR) to study the project cost, land acquisition and alignment options for the proposed 92 km road.
The consultancy agency has installed signages at different places from Sompur of Erasama block to Nuagaon which show the number of the NH as 45 instead of 55.
Contacted, Executive Engineer, NHAI MR Khan said the consultancy agency has wrongly displayed the NH number as 45 instead of 55. ‘’On being informed about the blunder, we have asked the agency to correct the error,’’ he added.