Gaping pits dug on capital roads to lay underground power cables or water supply pipelines have turned walking and driving into a nightmare for residents.
“Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (JBVNL) has dug a 4-feet deep, 3-feet wide and 4-feet long trench to lay cables near Hanuman Dharam Kanta near Kokar around 15 days ago. However, the discom does not have a sense of urgency as far as completing the work and filling up of the pit is concerned,” barber Arun Kumar Thakur, who runs his shop in the locality, said.
He said school buses picked and dropped students from the spot and chances of a mishap always loomed large.
A resident of Line Tank Road, Ajay Nayak, shared the same problem about his locality.
“The ditch dug up by JBVNL near Nanhe Kadam, a playschool, is deep enough to cause serious injury in case someone falls into it. Driving or walking through the stretch becomes more risky after dusk because the area is devoid of streetlights. It has been 20 days since the portion of the road was dug out, but the work has not yet been completed,” Nayak said.
Abdul Ahmed, a resident of Dangra Toli, said the drinking water and sanitation department was yet to fill up the pit that it had dug up to lay a pipeline 10 days ago.
“Two months ago, a trench had been dug up for cabling work,” he added.
Contacted for comments, deputy commissioner Rai Mahimapat Ray directed the questions to municipal commissioner Manoj Kumar.
“Currently, several development projects by Jharkhand Urban Infrastructure Development Company (Juidco), drinking water and sanitation department and JBVNL are underway in the capital and various contractors have been engaged for the purpose. It is difficult to get rid of these pits before 2023. We have to work towards ensuring water supply across the city by 2024,” Kumar said.
He, however, said that the contractors had been asked to ensure that the pits were covered up as soon as the work was done.
Executive engineer of JBVNL, S.N.Choudhary, said residents of the town area would be able to get rid of the pits by June this year.
“We have a deadline to finish underground cabling work by June and hope all fill up the pits by then,” Choudhary added.