Patna: Although there are numerous roads in India that have more potholes than pavement, images of enormous craters that span the entire width of a national highway for as far as the eye can see are still an uncommon occurrence.
An overhead video taken by Praveen Thakur of the Dainik Bhaskar newspaper reveals the frightening state of National Highway 227, which passes through Madhubani in Bihar. Political analyst Prashant Kishor, a frequent opponent of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, also had something to say about the road, which looked like it came straight out of the obstacle race game show Takeshi’s Castle.
“This section of National Highway 227 (L), in the Madhubani district of Bihar, is reminiscent of the state of the roads during the Jungle Raj in the 1990s. On a recent occasion, Nitish Kumar ji encouraged the members of the road construction department to spread the word about the excellent condition of the roads in Bihar”. In Hindi, he tweeted.
The road has been in utter disrepair since 2015, according to the Dainik Bhaskar article. Three different tenders have been put out to fix it, but all of the contractors have vanished after abandoning the project unfinished. In a speech two weeks ago, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that by December 2024, Bihar’s road system would be on par with that of the United States.
As he opened the eastern flank of the rebuilt Mahatma Gandhi Setu over the River Ganga at Hajipur, he praised the tremendous progress Bihar’s road network has made in recent years.
