Despite shortage of rawmaterial due to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, the Public Works Department is working to make the road linking Ajanta Caves to Aurangabad city in Maharashtra hurdle-free before the forthcoming monsoon season, an official said on Thursday.The National Highway division of the Public Works Department (PWD) here recently got permission to continue work on the 100-km Aurangabad-Sillod-Ajanta road stretch.But since the supply of raw material from other states has got interrupted due to the lockdown, the department has decided to carry out the important works first to keep the road motorable during monsoon, a senior PWD official told PTI."Contractors are instructed to carry out works which will help smooth traffic movement from here. We are planning to make the road hurdle-free before monsoon," he said.Last year, the world famous Ajanta Caves saw a significant decline in tourist footfalls because of the bad condition of the road linking Aurangabad city to the UNESCO heritage site.The road is being expanded from two to four-lane.One side of the four-lane road was supposed to be completed by last month. But, due to the enforcement of lockdown, the work came to a halt since mid-March.The permission to resume work was granted to the department a week back, the official said.
