No one is ready to take up repairs of the busy Bank More Flyover used by around 2,000 vehicles every half hour, leading to perennial traffic snarls very day.

“Such is its condition that any pedestrian walking on the footpath on both sides of the 30-metre-wide flyover, may fall since the railings are broken,” said Madhurendra Singh, an outspoken social worker, explaining the dangers of the 812-metre flyover that connects Dhanbad town with other parts of the district, including Jharia, Sindri, Katras, Putki and Loyabad.

A portion of the railing on the footpath is broken, leaving pedestrians at risk.

“This apart, several potholes towards Netaji Subhash Chandra Chowk also leads to frequent traffic jams,” said Singh, a former president of Bartand Chamber Commerce, adding that the pillars holding up the bridge were in a dilapidated state, posing severe risk to all.

Singh also questioned the rationale behind allowing the main Maithon water supply pipeline to pass through the bridge. “The heavy pipeline passing through a dilapidated flyover may endanger the life of many people,” he feared.

Outer railings of the bridge are damaged too.

The district administration had in August last year used the services of the road construction department to repair some of the potholes and the railings. Earlier in March 2015, the road was strengthened as a part of the Rs 11-crore project to repair a 17-km stretch of NH-32 from Kapuria to the district board office in Dhanbad.

The bridge was in good condition for about four years when potholes began to surface again. Some pillars also developed cracks in 2019 after which a repair was conducted.

Shrubs have been growing out of the side of the bridge.

Executive engineer of the road construction department Amrendra Saha said, “We carried out repairs of the bridge last year. The bridge was transferred to National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in 2016. Hence, we can’t repair it again and again.”

NHAI executive engineer Sudhir Prasad said the state highway authority of Jharkhand, which was now strengthening the 33.8km Govindpur-Mahuda Road, should have repaired the bridge since it is a part of the road.