Samruddhi Mahamarg works halted for want of oxygen

Aurangabad, April 22:

In the wave of Covid-19 emergency, the state government has preferred to supply oxygen to the hospitals engaged in the treatment of serious patients. As a result, the manufacturers stopped the supply of oxygen required for the construction of Samrudhi Mahamarg (Super Expressway). Accordingly, the welding works needed to construct various bridges, underpass, interchanges, etc. have been stopped for the past many days.

It may be noted that the length of 112 km of the Mahamarg passes from our district. Hence the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation had made an announcement of making one lane of this expressway motorable for the vehicles by the end of May. The two contractors - Mega Engineering and L&T - were working strenuously to achieve the target. However, their work witnessed a slow down since the advent of the second wave of Covid-19. There are 5,000 outstation labourers working with both contractors. Of which, 2,000 had gone to their native places to celebrate Holi, but had not returned to work. Meanwhile, the present 3,000 labourers are also becoming restless, but the contractors and MSRDC officials are taking care of their food, accommodation, and health. In addition, for the past 10 days, the welding works had been disrupted due to the non-availability of oxygen cylinders, it is learnt.

Working hard to meet the target: MSRDC

MSRDC superintending engineer B P Salunke said," We are running behind the schedule by a month due to last year's and present year's lockdown. Besides, we had also faced inconvenience in transporting material from outstation during the last year as the district and state borders were sealed. This year, the situation seems to be under control. Meanwhile, the L&T had completed its 87 percent of the work and Mega Engineering had done 68 pc works."

The labourers, who had gone to native places for Holi were expected to return after 15 days, but one month had been passed and they are yet to return back to work. Meanwhile, we are taking every possible care of the existing labourers and are trying our best so that they should not make their minds to their native villages, added Salunke.

Tunnel work in a month

The construction of the tunnel is underway on a war footing. The length of the tunnel is 295 meters. Of the two lanes passing through it, the construction of one lane of length 222 meters had been completed and the construction of the second lane is underway simultaneously. Besides, the mountain had been excavated by 110 meters. The officials are hoping to complete the tunnel work by May 30, it is learnt.