Expand Balasore-Kharagpur NH 60 Into Six Lane, Sarangi Urges Gadkari

Bhubaneswar: Union Minister Pratap Sarangi has sought intervention of Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari for the expansion of Balasore-Kharagpur section of the NH-60 into six lanes.

In a letter, Sarangi said that the 120 km stretch from Balasore to Kharagpur has made the road journey hassle-free for the commuters, reducing the long circuitous route from Balasore via NH-16 by a huge margin by connecting the road traffic from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata.

This has been done in a web of interconnecting NHs- NH 16 (Bhubaneswar-Balasore), NH-16 (Balasore-Kharagpur) and again NH-16 (Kharagpur-Kolkata). The vital NH connectivity has spurred economic activities in Balasore and other cities in West Medinipur (West Bengal) besides creating a dependable road infrastructure to connect the two state capitals- Bhubaneswar and Kolkata.

However, the six-laning project of NH-60 was dropped in 2011-12 due to lack of requisite traffic flow. The situation has vastly changed during the last decade and today, the volume of traffic in the Balasore-Kharagpur section of the NH-60 meets the traffic benchmark, wrote Sarangi.

At present, the NH-16 between Bhubaneswar and Balasore (210 km) is already six lane. Similarly, the NH route between Kharagpur-Kolkata (135km) is also six lane while the intermediate patch of NH-60 (Balasore-Kharagpur section) is still four lane one.

This four-lane patch of the NH-60 has not been able to sustain the growing volume of traffic, leading to slowing down of traffic, frequent congestion and accidents.

“Considering the imperative need of hassle-free and seamless six-lane connectivity from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata, I request you to kindly consider expanding the four lane NH 60 into six lane for the benefit of public and for ushering in economic development of Eastern India,” wrote Sarangi.

(Edited By Ramakant Biswas)