Imagine driving on a wide, newly built road with zero potholes and trees lined up on both sides. As you speed through the smooth road, the fresh breeze and landscape make for a scenic and pleasant driving experience. But what if these trees shift to the middle of the road? It turns into a real-life biking game where you either evade hurdles or lose a lifeline. And, this has come true in Bihar’s Jehanabad, 50km away from the capital Patna, where a Rs 100 crore road widening project went terribly wrong.
In Jehanabad, on the Patna-Gaya main road, trees stand tall in the middle of the 7.48 km long road, making the commuters prone to accidents. These trees didn’t grow overnight. Then what happened?
When the district administration undertook a Rs 100 crore road widening project, they approached the forest department, seeking permission to remove trees. But their demand was rejected. In return, the forest department demanded compensation for 14 hectares of forest land. However, the district administration could not fulfil the request, and they made a bizarre move – they created a road around the trees.
The trees aren’t planted in a straight line, which a driver could avoid. One must criss-cross their way through them. It appears to be an Rs 100 crore invitation to death.
Many accidents have already happened due to trees being in the middle of the road, a passerby said. The district administration, however, does not seem to be taking any concrete initiative to remove the trees.
Who will be held responsible if a major accident occurs and someone dies? It is a question that remains unanswered, like the problem at hand.
