Koilwar.
From Bihta of Patna to the pleasant turn of Koilwar in Bhojpur district to Chhapra city of Saran, normal life is plagued by traffic jams. On one hand, the local people are not able to come out on the road, while on the other hand, the condition of the vehicles has become worse after getting stuck in the traffic jam for many hours and days. The situation is such that it is taking more than a day for trucks to cover the approximately 16 to 20 km route from Koilwar’s Manbhavan and Skuddi turn to Saran’s Doriganj. This situation has remained the same for the last one week.
The dilapidated road of Saran has stopped the movement of vehicles:
Truck drivers going to Chapra and Siwan via Koilwar say that while going from Doriganj to Chapra, the road is completely damaged at a place called Rauja and Bishunpur. There are two to four feet potholes on the road, in which many sand-laden big vehicles are getting stuck and getting damaged every day. Due to the vehicle breaking down in the middle of the road, traffic is being blocked due to which the speed of the vehicles is being slowed down. Along with this, due to damage to the railway flyover near Bishunpur fair, trains from Doriganj to Koilwar are coming to a halt. Knowledgeable drivers say that if the said road is built, then big trucks can cover the distance from Koilwar to Chhapra Bypass in just one and a half hours. The remaining work is making up for the delay in the reconstruction of the four lane stretch from Koilwar’s pleasant turn to Doriganj. The one-lane road from Koilwar to Doriganj has been torn up for reconstruction, but even after nine months, barely five km of the 20 km road has been constructed.
Tractors coming out of illegal ghats of Bhojpur and Saran are increasing the trouble:
Dozens of legal and illegal sand ghats are running from Koilwar to Babura and Qutubpur. From where the tractors carrying sand are causing trouble. Most of the tractors coming out of the sand ghats transport sand illegally. Because of which they remain in a hurry. In a hurry to overtake, these tractors also run on the mouths of roads and in empty stretches of the road, due to which traffic jams become severe. The condition of tractors laden with sand is such that they are running wildly from Doriganj to Bihta Imadpur, the end of Bhojpur, and due to their haste, they are causing accidents. The situation in Rajapur and Qutubpur is such that illegal ghat operators stop the traffic on the four-lane road for hours and push the tractors coming out of the ghats.
The service road of the city is also packed with trucks laden with sand:
The four lane road from Koilwar Shaheed Kapildev Chowk to Jhalkunagar turn is the service lane of the city. But the trucks laden with sand have not spared them either. Both lanes of the three km road from Shaheed Kapildev Chowk to Jhalkunagar are blocked 24 hours. The situation is such that trucks are standing in queues in one lane, while sand trucks are running wildly in the other lane. In such a situation, people are hesitant in even going to the intersections, whereas this road is the main road of Nagar Panchayat Koilwar and one has to go from the Block Police Station Hospital to the market through this route.
Entry gangs are becoming a cause of leprosy:
In the chaos of traffic, entry gangs are acting as a scourge in leprosy. Their game starts as soon as evening falls. After loading sand at the sand ghats during the day, they bring the overloaded trucks to the main road in the evening and with the connivance of the local administration, make them cross on the wrong side, bypassing the vehicles standing in the queue. As soon as night falls, hundreds of trucks laden with sand can be seen with no entry and going from the wrong side.
Silence of local administration under suspicion:
On the one hand, the silence of the local police administration is under suspicion due to the problem of traffic jam due to the action of the entry gang in making the trucks cross on the wrong side of the several kilometer long line. Local people on the roadside say that with the connivance of the police, thousands of vehicles are being made to cross by the entry gang every day, but the administration is nowhere to be seen on the road. Every day people are dying in road accidents. Despite this, no concrete steps are being taken.