Three years on, Patna-Gaya-Dobhi NH to have 4 lanes

PATNA: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has begun work on converting the dilapidated and accident-prone Patna-Gaya-Dobhi NH-83 into a four-lane road. The work was supposed to begin in December 2012 as a joint venture of the Union government and Japan International Cooperation Agency. NHAI’s Bihar regional officer R P Singh said the NH-83 was under the state road construction department and brought under the NHAI recently. He said the contract for the work was finalized on April 6 this year. Patna high court lawyer Arvind Kumar recalled the Patna HC ordered that the NH-83 be made of four lanes in January 2007 in response to a PIL filed by him in 2006. However, Singh pleaded ignorance about any such HC order.“The Union government had given an undertaking in the court to convert the NH-83 into a four-lane stretch years ago. During these years, several illegal constructions have come up on this road. The broken surface and crater-size potholes also hinder traffic movement on this stretch. I intend to pursue criminal and civil proceedings against the NHAI if they do not act within a month,” said Kumar.NHAI’s Gaya-based project director Niraj Gaur said the work on four-laning the NH-83 began on April 10 and is expected to be completed within three years.