CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has set a three-week deadline for repair of 163-km stretch of NH-215 between Panikoili in Jajpur to Rimuli in Keonjhar district.
The division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Savitri Ratho said, "This court directs the Collector Jajpur and Collector Keonjhar accompanied by the authorised representatives of the NHAI and senior level engineers shall immediately undertake a visit to the aforementioned stretches of NH-215 including the stretch covered by the three toll plazas, examine the present condition and put in place a plan of action for repairing the stretches in a time-bound and urgent basis."
"They will decide whether the task should be entrusted to Gayatri Projects (agency entrusted with the task of expanding and strengthening the NH) or any other agency but the timely completion of the repairs over the next three weeks must be ensured on a war footing," the bench said in its order on Friday.
The order also said, "The joint compliance report of the collectors of Jajpur and Keonjhar and the NHAI shall be placed before this court on the next date (July 26). Photographs/videos of the repaired stretches of the NH-215 shall be enclosed with the report."
The court issued the direction on a PIL filed by Mitra Bhanu Mohapatra and others. The petitioners alleged that their repeated pleas to the authorities had fallen on deaf ears and the people using the NH and living in the areas abutting it are undergoing severe hardship.