Sanawad: The long pending demand to upgrade 203-km long Indore - Ichhapur state highway that connects Indore to cities in south India, intensified on Saturday after scores of youths from Sanawad in Khargone district staged a sit-in near polytechnic college. They demanded immediate widening of state highway and its regular maintenance.
At present, travelling from Indore to Ichhapur, the last village of Madhya Pradesh in Burhanpur district, is a nightmare as it has several potholes. The highway that passes through Barwah, Sanawad, Burhanpur among other towns receives heavy vehicular flow as large number of people travel by it to reach Omkareshwar Jyotirling and tourist spots like Hanuwantiya and Sailani island.
Its poor maintenance not only causes road accidents but revenue loss to government. According to information, road was constructed under build–operate–transfer (BOT) scheme. Earlier, Ashok Buildcon Company had an agreement with Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation and company used to maintain the road. The agreement ended on February 18 this year and company stopped maintenance work.
Villagers said traffic density on the road increased manifold after February 18, 2017. Heavy vehicle owners were charged up to Rs 1,000 between Indore and Ichhapur. Now, they don’t need to pay anything. As a result, traffic movement has increased. Earlier, large number of villagers asked MPRDC to fix agency for road maintenance work, but to no avail.
Observers say that lack of road maintenance, especially during summer season was the sole reason behind increase in number of road accidents. They claimed that bitumen would melt during summer season and accumulate at one place. As a result, many fast moving heavy vehicles lost balance and skidded off the road.
