Kendrapara: The tourist season has started. Visitors who come to the Dangamala Crocodile Research and Breeding Centre inside Bhitarkanika National Park usually take the Rajnagar–Talachua Road to reach Dangamala.
But, the only direct road to Dangamal, is now in bad shape. It has become difficult even for a cyclist to travel on the road. So one can imagine how motorcyclists and tourists who travel in four-wheelers and buses feel.
Not only tourists but the people of Talachua, Rangani, Dangamala, Krushnanagar, Baghamari, Keruanpala, Mahulia, Iswarpur, Ghadiamala, Kandira and Bhitargada panchayats too depend on this road to go to the police station, post office, tehsil office, block office and the Rajnagar CHC.
The road is accident prone from Maliabuda to Jarimula. Bikers meet with accidents regularly here as they negotiate the potholed road, said Jagannath Rout, a resident.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation stone to construct a 8 km road from Rajnagar to Jarimula just before the last three tier panchayat polls. But construction was not started for a year. As a result local MLA Anshuman Mohanty once again laid the foundation stone for the road project November 25 last year.
The road and building department has been constructing the road at an estimated cost of Rs 10.81 crore but the work is moving slowly. Only 50 per cent of the construction has been completed though the deadline is August 31, 2018.
Resentment is brewing among people as the R&B department has not been speeding up the work. Locals and tourists want the road completed on a war footing as it connects to the Bhitarkanika National Park directly.
Pradip Kumar Mohanty, executive engineer of R&B department, said the matter has come to his notice and construction will be completed after the monsoon.
PNN