KENDRAPARA: A portion of an under-construction stretch of National Highway-53 caved in at Nilachal Bazaar in Mahakalapada, causing three trucks to lose balance and fall into a ditch on Sunday.
Videos of the damaged NH stretch went viral on social media, raising questions over the quality of work on the highway widening project.
Locals alleged that the recent heavy rain has exposed the sub-standard quality of road widening work executed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Retired engineer of Kendrapara Biswanath Behera said the incident confirms the enormity of corruption and inefficiency in the NHAI. “Some contractors in clear nexus with NH officials have looted huge amounts of money by doing sub-standard highway widening work,” he claimed.
Contacted, regional officer of the NHAI, Bhubaneswar Virendra Singh said the three trucks were illegally parked on the under-construction stretch of the highway. The trucks fell into the roadside ditch as the highway stretch collapsed due to stagnation of water following week-long incessant rain.
“We had warned people not to use the construction site for any purpose. The authorities had also banned the entry of public to the site. However, the truck drivers did not pay heed to the warning and had parked their vehicles at the site,” he said.
Singh said nobody was injured in the incident. The trucks were lifted from the ditch on Sunday. The damaged section of the highway will be repaired soon.