The existing 94-kilometre State highway is being developed into the four-lane stretch from Indaram village in Jaipur mandal of Mancherial district centre to Goyagaon village in Wankidi mandal to ease vehicular movement and to meet future needs of traffic.
Updated On – 05:54 PM, Sun – 3 September 23
Mancherial: Work on a viaduct or flyover bridge in Mandamarri, part of the Mancherial-Chandrapur National Highway 363, has been in limbo for over two years. The inordinate delay is causing inconvenience to motorists and residents of the town and surrounding villages.
The existing 94-kilometre State highway is being developed into the four-lane stretch from Indaram village in Jaipur mandal of Mancherial district centre to Goyagaon village in Wankidi mandal to ease vehicular movement and to meet future needs of traffic.
The project was taken up under the National Highway Development Project (NHDP) under Bharatmala Pariyojana-Phase IV on a hybrid annuity mode at an estimated cost of Rs.2,497 crore in August 2020.
The work on the viaduct, a part of the national highway, was launched in 2021 and is yet to be completed. Citing various reasons including delay in shifting pipeline of a drinking water scheme and the pandemic, the deadline has been extended multiple times. However, the delay is leading traffic snarls, irking motorists.
“It takes at least 10 minutes to cross the nearly 1 kilometre long stretch where the viaduct is being built. Traffic snarls caused by congested roads and diversion of vehicular movement have become a common sight due to the delay in executing the works. The narrow road is resulting in mishaps as well,” K Komuraiah, a resident of the town said. He urged the authorities of the National Highways Authority of India to take steps to expedite the work.
Significantly, people who need to rush to Mancherial town for medical emergencies are forced to walk to avoid traffic jams. Local policemen are clearing traffic, which comes to standstill, and helping pedestrians to cross the stretch, indicating the gravity of the delay.
According to NHAI officials, the deadline to complete formation of Mancherial-Repallewada stretch was August 2022. As per rules of the NHAI, the executing agency should be liable to pay compensation of Rs.5 lakh per day if it fails to meet the deadline.
However, no action has been initiated against the agency so far.
When asked, NHAI Project Director KN Ajay Manikumar told Telangana Today that the work was getting delayed owing to shifting of the pipeline and that steps were being taken to throw the viaduct open to the public by January.
