Landslide on National Highway – Deep pothole repaired through administrative action

Jyoti Prakash Mukherjee, Asansol, West Burdwan -: The landslide created a deep pothole on NH-19 between Garui Bridge and Chandrachud on the way to Jharkhand. After learning about the incident from the Asansol North Traffic Police, Asansol Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Headquarters) Biswajit Bhattacharya contacted the National Highway Authority and ordered the pothole to be repaired immediately. National Highway engineers reached the spot and repaired the place with warlike speed. It was 5 am. Most of the people in the Asansol industrial area had not woken up well. Suddenly, the sound of a huge explosion shook the surroundings. The panicked locals, who came out of their homes in their sleepy eyes, saw that a landslide on the main road connecting Kolkata and Delhi in Raghunathbati area had created a hole more than 25 feet deep with a radius of 6-8 feet in the middle of the road. As a result, traffic on the busy road was completely disrupted and massive traffic jams were created. To avoid accidents, the Asansol North Traffic Guard police cordoned off the area. The incident created a huge sensation in the area. After a long time, the movement of goods trucks and other vehicles has almost stopped due to the failure to fill this hole in the middle of the road. Although some are crossing the road at the risk of their lives for work. Locals complain that although the ECL company extracts underground coal in this area, it does not fill it according to the rules. As a result, such landslides occur in the area from time to time. Landslides occur more frequently during the rainy season. As a result, many times the houses of ordinary people are buried in the ground. Locals demand from the ECL authorities that the pits created after the extraction of underground coal should be filled in a scientific manner.