Delay in construction national highway 1 has disturbed the heavy vehicle flow and the traffic is being diverted to a service road which is in a poor condition.
An over-bridge's construction has been going on for over 4 years, due to which a 5-km patch of NH1 near Sirhind has been closed.
The service road is in a deplorable state as the recent rains have given birth to a number of potholes, which could cause accidents. Long traffic jams have become a norm on this road. However the officials seem to be unaware of these problems.
Former sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Sukhminder Singh during his posting here had said, "We will talk to the higher officials and Soma to repair it soon and so that traffic flow can be smooth here." However, the condition of the road is still the same.
In December last year, a truck fell into a pit on the service road, which resulted in the highway getting strewn with the Punjab school education board answer sheets that it was carrying. It took the police and national highways authority of India officials 11 hours to clear the mess and resume services on the highway.
"The traffic has been shifted to the service road due to the six lane project of NH1. I am aware of the issue and these pits on the service road are due to the recent rains and we will fix them soon," said Rakesh Kumar, an executive officer of municipal council Mandi Gobindgarh.
{{/usCountry}}"The traffic has been shifted to the service road due to the six lane project of NH1. I am aware of the issue and these pits on the service road are due to the recent rains and we will fix them soon," said Rakesh Kumar, an executive officer of municipal council Mandi Gobindgarh.
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Amitesh Sinha, project manager of Soma said, "There's a company showroom and a school who release their waste water on road and we have requested them a number of times to not to do so. This water accumulates on the road and results in the pits on road. However, we will inspect the service road and fix every problem soon."