Highway to hell: 40km stretch of NH7 from Mansar to Khawasa in pathetic condition

September 20, 2013

Ashish Roy & Abhishek Choudhari, TNN |

NAGPUR: The 40km stretch from Mansar to Khawasa on NH-7 resembles anything but a road today. To call it ‘pothole ridden’ would be an understatement, since the potholes have turned into almost two-feet-deep ditches, almost throughout this stretch. The road, unworthy of being called a national highway, has gained notoriety for accidents, long traffic snarls and damaged vehicles.Sadiq Qureshi has been ferrying passengers daily between Kamptee and Khawasa in his private taxi for the last nine years. He has never seen the stretch is this dangerous a condition. “It was always bad, but this monsoon seems to have taken everything out of it. The tar has been washed away completely, and huge ditches are the norm. Our taxis are loaded with people and maneuvering loaded vehicles through the ditches is risky. I have seen two trucks tip over this month alone, just beyond Deolapar village. The ditches are so deep that balancing a loaded truck is tricky in the day, and impossible in the night,” said Qureshi.For truck owners, driving on this stretch is akin to a death wish for their vehicles. But with fixed transport routes, they have few options. Truck driver Komal Singh Parmar said, “I frequently travel on this road and ferry goods from Uttar Pradesh to southern states, as it is the shortest route. Since Holi, I have replaced three tyres as they got damaged. After monsoon, the conditions have become horrible. The stretch is bad enough to break the axle of a fully loaded transport truck.”Traffic on this route literally crawls, taking 90 minutes on an average to travel the 40km stretch. At the really bad spots, trucks face off for hours together, as only one can pass at a time.Truck driver Naman Sheikh said, “Just beyond Deolapar village, there is a small bridge that is clearly the worst patch on this route. Navigating those 20-30 meters is the most challenging tasks for us, as even the slightest slip will result in the truck tipping over. When that happens, there’s bound to be a traffic jam for six to seven hours.”

As far as repair and maintenance go, the 40km stretch is a no-go zone. The National Highway Authority Of India (NHAI) has leased the road for 28 years to Oriental Structural Engineers (OSE), on build-operate-transfer basis. But a part of the project is stuck because of objections from the forest department.

NHAI chief engineer Arvind Kale said, “We had signed a contract in 2006 with OSE to turn the entire 117km road from Khawasa border to Borkhedi into a four-lane highway. The 40km stretch from Mansar to Khawasa is also part of this contract, and 30km of this comes under forest land. This stretch could not be four-laned because the Supreme Court struck down the project as it would affect Pench National Park.”

With the project in doldrums, NHAI claims to have worked out a compromise formula. Kale said, “The proposed width of this road was 60 metres, but we decided to construct a 30 metre wide road instead. The revised proposal was sent to the state government, which forwarded it to the union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF).”

OSE has washed its hands of the issue, admitting that it got the contract but NHAI never handed over the Mansar-Khawasa stretch to it. Prashant Bargi, local representative of OSE, said, “We are currently maintaining the stretch from Borkhedi to Ramdham (just before Mansar). We have not been handed over the remaining stretch yet, it remains with NHAI.”

Asked about the horrific road conditions and threat to human life, Kale said maintenance of the stretch is under consideration. “We are hoping the MOEF clears the revised four-laning proposal soon, else we will go ahead with the repair work. The damage is due to very heavy rainfall this year. NHAI had prepared an estimate for road repairs, but after our senior officials inspected the stretch we realized the estimate needs to be revised upwards,” said Kale.

The files and permissions related to road construction and repairs seem to be stuck in red tape, and progress is slower than the traffic on this road. DM Reddy, a civil contractor and social activist based in Ramtek, said, “Trucks line up for hours and accidents occur by the dozens as the road condition deteriorates by the day. Residents all along this killer highway are living in constant fear, not knowing which acquaintance or relative will be claimed by the road next. Our public representatives have failed us, and now we can just resign ourselves to fate.”

For tourists headed to wildlife sanctuaries like Pench or Karmazari, the adventure begins much earlier in their journey. The horrific condition of the stretch of road from Mansar to Khawasa makes driving a treacherous and risky proposition. With tiger reserves set to open in October, the local travel industry is worried about the adverse impact on not only tourism revenues but also tourism reputation.

Chandrapal Choukasey is a member of the National Tourism Advisory Council (NTAC) and says the tourism business is being ‘wiped out’ due to bureaucratic hurdles. “The reputation of our region will plummet once tourists travel on that road. We are bringing in tourists from overseas and different parts of the country to showcase our majestic tigers but the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) seems to be hell bent on ensuring that tourists never return. Even though Karmazari is in Madhya Pradesh, the road and airport used to get there belongs to us. It is Nagpur’s reputation at stake but NHAI and the contractor, Oriental Structural Engineers, are least bothered,” said Choukasey who also has stakes in the tourism business near the Mansar-Khawasa stretch.

The impact on tourism has already begun to show as Sandeep Singh, secretary of Pench Jungle Lodges’ Federation (Madhya Pradesh), says the pathetic road conditions are scaring off tourists. “I reside in Nagpur and take that road every week and can say that it is not fit for driving anymore. We have had cases of where tourists coming from Nagpur have turned back, leading to many bookings being cancelled. We have been in touch with NHAI but there has been very little progress on road maintenance. The forests will open for tourism on October 16 and there is no doubt that the road condition will affect tourism,” said Singh.

MS Tuli, a veteran hotelier with a high end property at Pench, says anywhere in the world, tourism industry’s fortunes are directly connected to transportation facilities. “I would not say the road between Mansar and Khawasa is bad because I think there is no road there at all! It is extremely embarrassing to bring in tourists from all over the globe and set them off on a 40km stretch of ditches and trenches. A foreigner comes from Mumbai to Nagpur in 75 minutes but then discovers that it takes minimum two hours, sometimes three, to reach Pench. After such a bad experience the word spreads and tourism will take a toll if the highway is not repaired this year. I don’t understand why they can’t fill up the ditches with murum (red gravel) so that at least the ride for tourists is comfortable,” says Tuli.

Resort owners assert that with more options of tiger tourism available near Nagpur, a considerable traffic can be drawn away from Pench if the roads are not repaired with urgency.

While the residents of Ramtek are angry over National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and its contractor Oriental Constructions for the abysmal shape of Mansar-Khawasa road, the shifting of toll plaza from Tekadi to Amdi (opposite Ramdham) has also invited controversy. The matter had reached the Supreme Court and the court ruled in favour of Oriental Constructions.

If you travel from Kanhan to Mansar, you cross a small village called Tekadi and then come at a T-point called Amdi Phata. The road towards left goes to Parsheoni and Saoner. On travelling further you reach Amdi village and then finally Mansar.

Earlier, the toll plaza was at Tekadi. However, according to Ramtek politician DM Reddy, it was shifted to Amdi so that the traffic from Raipur, Bhandara and Gondia towards Bhopal would be forced to pay toll for using just 3 km of the toll road. “Many people travelling from Chhattisgarh, Gondia and Bhandara travel to Bhopal using the Tumsar/Bhandara-Ramtek-Mansar-Amdi Phata-Saoner-Multai route. When the toll plaza was at Tekadi such vehicles did not pay any toll,” Reddy said.

“Very few people travel from Kanhan to Parsheoni and Saoner using Amdi Phata and hence the loss of toll due to closure of plaza at Tekadi is minimal,” he explained.

Mahendra Lule, office-bearer of private bus operators’ association, said that the plaza was moved from Tekadi to Amdi to compensate for revenue loss at Dongargaon toll plaza. “We had intervened in SC in the petition opposing shifting of the toll plaza to Amdi but unfortunately the SC did not hear our plea,” he said.

The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court, hearing a case filed by Butibori Manufacturers Association (BMA) had held that both the toll plazas at Dongargaon and Amdi were illegal. Oriental and NHAI appealed against it and the SC allowed them to set up plazas at Borkhedi and Amdi, the two ends of the toll road. BMA did not object to this decision as its problem was solved.

Prashant Bargi of Oriental Constructions said the toll plaza was at the spot mentioned in the agreement between NHAI and his company and there was no irregularity involved.

Politicians take to streets even if condition of district roads is half bad as that of NH 7 between Mansar and Khawasa. However, as the 40km stretch passes through Pench national park and Mansinghdeo wildlife sanctuary and has very few villages, no politician has taken the issue seriously.

Ramtek MP Mukul Wasnik could have easily got it repaired given his clout in New Delhi. However, he rarely bothered to visit it until a few months ago. Deolapar residents say Ramtek MLA Ashish Jaiswal too does not bother about their area as there are not many votes there. “He concentrates on Ramtek area, which is quite populated,” a resident said.

When MLA Jaiswal, who is from Shiv Sena, was asked about the condition of the highway he shrugged off his responsibility saying that the 40km stretch was being maintained by NHAI and hence it was the responsibility of MP Mukul Wasnik to take up the issue. “Had it been a state highway, I would have got it repaired by pressuring the state government,” he claimed.

Jaiswal had promised TOI on Friday to show the bad stretches and arrange meeting with local residents suffering because of the abysmal condition of the road. On Sunday morning, TOI tried to contact him several times but he neither responded to SMSes nor took any call. On Monday, he claimed he was indisposed. Krupal Tumane, Shiv Sena leader who contested against Wasnik in 2009 general elections, too blamed Wasnik. “The MP is just not interested in getting the road repaired. People are angry with him. About three months back, they had gheraoed him between Mansar and Paoni. He assured to get the road repaired within 15 days but nothing happened,” he said.

On the efforts he had made in this regard, he said, “We had staged a road blockade some time ago. We also met NHAI chief engineer Arvind Kale but to no avail. If NHAI doesn’t listen to Wasnik, what can people like me do?”

D M Reddy, an independent candidate who contested against Jaiswal, claimed he was the only politician taking up the issue. “I had led the road blockade in Deolapar two months ago. MP Mukul Wasnik and MLA Ashish Jaiswal did not even visit for a minute. Jaiswal lives just a few kilometres away but even then he did not come though it was an apolitical agitation. This in spite of the fact that about 125 people have died in last two to three years,” he said.

Chandrapal Choukasey, Congress candidate who contested against Jaiswal in 2009, defended Wasnik. “It was due to Wasnik’s efforts that Rs7 crore were sanctioned for repairing the road. However, Orient did not do anything and the money lapsed. It is completely their fault. About 100 people have died and thousands, who travel on the road regularly have developed back trouble. State government’s forest department is also responsible for delay in forwarding the file to centre,” he said.

Source http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Highway, NHAI

2 Comments on “Highway to hell: 40km stretch of NH7 from Mansar to Khawasa in pathetic condition” Post your comment

shubhashish Ghosh on January 16th, 2014 10:24 am

Myself Shubhashish Ghosh Working at Ramtek since 2011, travelling through my car from Kamtee, nagpur,

I have to pay 135/- per visit in terms of Toll fees at Mansar,
I have seen Many times The authority of Toll Naka give free Exit to many Cars by taking some amount without giving receipt to residents of Ramtek & mansar.

this is illegal. There must be free exit to all the persons who are traveling with there cars and who are posted to ramtek.
if this relaxation is not given to the daily travelers, i am going to suit case against them.
Ram Sharma on March 6th, 2014 1:01 pm

Not only this the patch of NH-7 Wadner to Andhra Border app 60 kms out of 90 km is in such a bad shape or totally without road. Villages roads are far far better than this road. I happened to travel recently and can only say it is a horrible road. To add to misery there are 2 (Two) toll booths in between for collection of toll. A PIL has been put in the court but to what extent there will be relief god knows.