Telangana: Potholes on newly laid NH 363 road stretch cause inconvenience to motorists

The highway sees traffic of hundreds of vehicles coming from northern states travelling to southern parts and vice-versa every day.

Kumram Bheem Asifabad/Mancherial: The recently laid road stretch of National Highway 363 has developed many potholes due to the recent rains indicating the mediocre quality of work.

The 50-km- ong four-lane national highway was laid between Repallewada village and borders of Chandrapur district in Maharashtra was laid in 2023 at a cost of Rs 1,140 crore. It was thrown open to the public a few months ago. Dilip Buildcon Limited executed the work on build-operate and transfer mode.

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The highway sees traffic of hundreds of vehicles coming from northern states travelling to southern parts and vice-versa every day. However, it was damaged by heavy rains in July and potholes can be found almost everywhere on the highway including fly overs exposing sub-standard quality in works, resulting in inconvenience to motorists.

“Travelling on the road is a nightmarish experience for motorists. The road network became pockmarked due to poor quality works. Potholes formed for every 500 meters make your journey painful. Officials of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) should to take repair at the earliest,” opined P Satyanarayana, a teacher who regularly uses the road to reach his school.

Significantly, the road has been battered at junctions and intersections at Buruguguda, Idulawada, Kondapalli and many other villages across the highway, annoying motorists and locals. Rainwater stagnated on the highway has been attributed to potholes that sometimes lead to road accidents on the stretch.

Meanwhile, the 44-kilometer-long four-lane road from Indaram in Mancherial district to Repallewada, a part of NH 363 was also damaged at several places due to rains. It was laid in 2022 spending Rs 1,356 crore. Motorists said that they were forced to drive vehicles much slower than usual on the stretch following a series of potholes.

NHAI project director KN Ajay Kumar said that potholes were being identified, while steps were being made to prevent inconvenience to motorists on a war footing basis. The potholes were being filled up with cold mix. Roads damaged by the rains would be repaired soon. A permanent solution is going to be found to rectify errors in certain structures developed cracks on the highway.