Within one-and-a-half months of construction, the stretch of 75 kilometres between Amravati and Akola is showing its ugly face in monsoon
Nagpur: The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) had created a Guinness World Record of constructing the longest highway stretch of 75 kilometres between Amravati and Akola in the least time — 105 hours and 33 minutes. The newly constructed road is part of National Highway 53. However, the stretch of the National Highway is in a sort of a record and stealing the headlines. It is riddled with ‘record-breaking’ potholes within one-and-a-half months. The heavy rains have rendered the stretch of the National Highway in miserable condition. Motorists are now posing a question: Was the construction done only for creating a world record?
It is pertinent to recall that a team of 800 employees of NHAI and 720 workers of a private company including independent consultants were involved to complete the task in record time. The work to build the road in record time started on June 3 at around seven in the morning and it was successfully completed on June 7 at 5 pm.
However, the record-breaking National Highway has started showing its ugly face with monsoon rains. The road is riddled with potholes pointing that material for the construction was of mediocre quality.
When the Guinness Book of Record was set up in the construction of the National Highway, the Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had tweeted: “Proud Moment For The Entire Nation! Feel very happy to congratulate our exceptional Team @NHAI_Official, Consultants & Concessionaire, Rajpath Infracon Pvt Ltd & Jagdish Kadam, on achieving the Guinness World Record (@GWR) of laying 75 Km continuous Bituminous Concrete Road …in a single lane on NH-53 section between Amravati and Akola. I would specially thank our Engineers & Workers who toiled day & night to achieve this extraordinary feat. #PragatiKaHighway #GatiShakti @narendramodi @PMOIndia,” Gadkari tweeted. Amravati-Akola section is the part of National Highway-53 and an important East-West corridor, he had said.
But within one-and-a-half months, the record-breaking National Highway has become a talking point for wrong reasons. At many places, the surface of the National Highway has vanished and the ugly face is being witnessed by motorists and nearby villagers.