The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which is under the Union ministry of road transport and highways, has allotted Rs 410 crore for setting a new fourlane greenfield bypass road to decongest the existing National Highway number 14 (old NH-60), which passes through the oldest coal town in the country, Raniganj.

The lifeline of Raniganj town was the erstwhile Netaji Subhas Bose Road (NSB Road), which has been renamed as national highways 60 in 2000. Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari has recently announced that a new six kilometres stretch from Sahibganj More to Mangolpur more will be set up by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under Bharatmala Pariyojana.

The NHAI sources said that from the month of April the construction work will start. Recently, the then chief secretary of West Bengal, Hari Krishna Dwivedi held a highlevel meeting in which he had reportedly instructed the district magistrates to speed up the land acquisitions in their respective districts for the upcoming new highways, expressway and expansion works of National Highways Authority of India throughout the state. Though a By-Pass Road was constructed earlier up to Bansra More, the situation has not improved. It was the long-time demand of the people of Raniganj to set up a new bypass road in Raniganj.

Sandeep Bhalotia, former president of Raniganj Chamber of Commerce and local refractory owner said that the new proposed six kilometres stretch will act as a game changer in this region. NH-14 starts from its junction with NH-12 (old NH-34) near Morgram connecting Rampurhat, Siuri, Raniganj, Bankura, Garhbeta and Salbani and terminating at its junction with NH-16 (old NH-2) near Kharagpur in the West Bengal. The entire stretch is a 2- lane with a Paved Shoulder configuration.

This corridor is acting as one of the prime corridors for the traffic plying from south Indian states and Odisha towards North Bengal and northeastern states, he added. The NH -14 connects many important Industrial, religious & agricultural areas like Kharagpur, Midnapore, Chandrakona Road, Garbeta, Bishnupur, Bankura, Raniganj, Pandabeswar, Dubrajpur, Suri, Rampurhat, Nalhati, etc.

“Thousands of people come from districts like Bankura, Purulia and adjoining districts of Jharkhand to catch flights from the Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport in Andal. Once this six-lane wide bypass road is constructed by the NHAI, the traffic movement will be faster. At present, the NH-14 is very much congested and we face huge traffic jams throughout the day,” added Sandeep Bhalotia. Raniganj is the oldest coal town in India and is more than 250 years old.

The grandfather of Rabindranath Tagore, Prince Dwarakanath Tagore used to run a coal mine through his company Carr Tagore and Company. His office-cum-bungalow beside the River Damodar in Raniganj is a heritage site now