Five towns in MP observe bandh over pathetic condition of highways

Five towns observed bandh on Sendhwa-Khetiya state highway Jan Sangharsh Samiti's call over the pathetic condition of state highways. Frustrated and annoyed people kept their businesses closed and took out rallies in the towns.

Five towns on Wednesday observed a bandh on Sendhwa-Khetiya state highway Jan Sangharsh Samiti's call over the pathetic condition of state highways. Frustrated and annoyed people of Khetiya, Pansemal, Moyda, Niwali and Dondwada kept their businesses closed and took out rallies in the towns.

Later, a memorandum addressed to chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was handed over to the sub-divisional magistrate. Chouhan had inaugurated the road construction work on December 16, 2013 which was declared the state highway in 2009.

The convener of the Jan Sangharsh Samiti, Vijay Maheshwari, said people have also demanded immediate action against Shyam Gupta, assistant general manager of MPRDC (Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation Limited) for alleged delay of construction work by misguiding senior authorities.

They also demanded an inquiry report on the money utilized for the repair work in the last 20 years. The government had sanctioned this road under BOT and the construction work was supposed to finish by September 6, 2015 but only 12 km of the road has been constructed so far.

People said many bus operators too have stopped their services following the pathetic condition of the road. The MPRDC officials provided written assurance that they will start the repair work by February 15 which so far has been going on snail's pace due to incompletion of financial closure of the construction company.