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COMMUNICATION
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INTRODUCTION
At the beginning of this century, the condition of transport AND
communications in bhir district was unsatisfactory. There were
only two principal roads fit for easy transport in 1909. The
Aurangabad-Bhir road (115 kilometres) and the Bhir-Ahmadnagar road
(112 kilometres) were the only routes of commercial traffic.
Neither of these roads could be considered as equal to roads
described as first-class in British India, and even these were
gravelled rather than metalled. The other roads were mainly
earthen tracks deficient in everything. Very often the earthen
tracks were made even and repaired so as to serve traffic needs.
The monsoon used to inflict great hardships on the travelling
public in the district. In the absence of bridges, traffic used to
be interrupted during rainy days. Some roads were surfaced with
gravel and stones.
Construction and improvement of roads received the attention of
the government during the third decade of this century. A road
board was created to tackle the question. The public works
department carried out a liberal programme of improvement, grading
of the existing roads side by side with the construction of new
roads and the conversion of country roads into metalled ones. The
metalling of road surfaces encouraged the introduction of motor
services. [Census Report, Hyderabad State, 1931.]
Despite the road improvement in the third and fourth decades of
this century, the condition of transport was primitive; and there
was vast scope for expansion and development of modern methods of
transport.
Indeed, villages situated in the interior were devoid of any road
at all, except cart-tracks which were usually unsuitable for carts
during the rainy season. The result was that bullock-cart was the
only means of transport available for these areas. [Ibid.]
By 1956 the length of the metalled roads in the district was
463.49 kilometres (288 miles) whereas unmetalled roads covered
14.48 kilometres (9 miles). According to the Nagpur Plan of Road
Development, Bhir district is scheduled to have 1,609.34
kilometres (1,000 miles) of major roads and 1,448.41 kilometres
(900 miles) of other roads. By the end of the Second Plan the
length of metalled roads increased to about 675.92 kilometres (420
miles). The Third Five-Year Plan of the district envisages a
construction of a number of roads and improvement to the existing
ones. A number of roads including five state highways are under
construction. The state highways under construction are: (1)
Parali-Gangakhed road, (2) Bhir-Parali road, (3)
Sailu-Pathri-Manjlegaon road, (4) Dharur-Manjlegaon road, and (5)
Kalamb-Kaij-Dharur road.
It should also be mentioned here that even after the completion of
these roads, the transport system of the district will not be
adequate to cope with the increasing requirements of traffic. An
efficient means of transport is indispensable for the economic
development of the district and is a sine qua non for the
growth of industries, prosperity of agriculture and stability of
economic life.
The coverage of Bhir district by railways is extremely limited.
There are two railway routes which traverse only the eastern
portion of Ambejogai tahsil. Consequently their utility to the
commercial and passenger traffic of the district is small.
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