[PYSO]

I am on a roadtrip from Cochin to Jamshedpur. Already reached Raipur and staying at a relative's place for a few days, before taking off to Jamshedpur

The trip so far was
day1) Cochin to Bangalore via Trichur, Palakkad, Salem, Coimbatore (570 kms)
day 2) Bangalore to Hyderabad via Anantpur, Kurnool (640 kms)
day 3) Hyderabad to Raipur via Adilabad, Nagpur, Bhandara (805 kms)

The route from Raipur to Jamshedpur is totally unfamiliar to me (unlike the routes from Cochin to Raipur). So looking for help regarding best route / safest route / road conditions / what to watch our for.

I looked into Google-maps and the route suggested is

NH6 from Raipur to Kendujhar (via Sambalpur) - 486 Kms
NH75 from Kendujhar to Jamshedpur - 175 kms

Is this the best route? Any suggestions would be welcome and helpful.

[hvkumar]

You are right about the route, but check out Maoist safety issues in the last stretch to Jamshedpur from Chaibasa. You will have to learn very early in the morning from Raipur to reach Jamshedpur before nightfall. Roads in Orissa are bad.

BTW, how were the roads from Nagpur to Raipur (NH6)?

[PYSO]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

BTW, how were the roads from Nagpur to Raipur (NH6)?

For 30 or so kms coming out of Nagpur, the tarmac of NH6 (no 4-lane work happening on this section) is badly broken and urgently needs repair.

After another 30 kms or so, the 4-lane work starts. The 4-lanes are completed only in small patches. The rest of the route, 4-laning is going on with only 2-lanes opened. So, there are lots of diversions between the opened 2-lane stretches. The problem I had was that the diversions are not done properly - which is to say that many diversions are merely loose gravel and loose stones. This wouldnt be a problem for SUVs, but this was not at all liked by my Fiesta.


Couple of places there were huge gutters. One place, I was driving up a slope at around 100 kph (on a 4-lane stretch), and as I reached the peak of the slope, I saw a huge gutter 10 meters ahead (this was not visible while I was driving up the slope as it lay after the slope). The gutter was bang in the middle, which meant that both the right lane and the left lane were 25% eaten up by the gutter). Had only a micro-second to flick the steering the tiniest little bit and squeeze through the good portion of the right lane. The gutter was big enough to completely smash up the underside of the Fiesta. Well, I have to thank divine providence for helping me through that one.

There was quite heavy truck traffic, and very few private cars. But the truck traffic was more or less disciplined. So, didnt have any trouble in driving through the traffic.

Will start from Raipur at 4am, to reach Jamshedpur before 6pm. Hope everything goes well.

[KALINGA]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

You are right about the route, but check out Maoist safety issues in the last stretch to Jamshedpur from Chaibasa. You will have to learn very early in the morning from Raipur to reach Jamshedpur before nightfall. Roads in Orissa are bad.

Yes the roads are bad. Raipur to Padampur/Bargad the road is bad. From Bargad to sambalpur the road is good. From sambalpur to Kendujhar the road is not so good.

And the Maoist issue is there. Avoid early morning and night driving in Kendujhar to Jamshedpur stretch. Police / BSF petroling is there on that stretch. Obey there instruction if / any if you found on your way.

Recently i have a very very bad experiance with a Mao group.
We face them in Nuapara / Komna area. This incedent happen on May 23 night.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by KALINGA

Recently i have a very very bad experiance with a Mao group.
We face them in Nuapara / Komna area. This incedent happen on May 23 night.

Thanks for the road updates, KALINGA.
What happened with the Maoists?

[KALINGA]

We were in a Barat party from Titilagarh to NuaPara. We face then somewhere near to Komana at night. They stop our bus and search our bus for police man.

Then they ask for money we paid them 5k. They all loaded with some kind of automatic rifels and many other wepons that i cant recognise. They were a group of around 25-30. Talking in telgu/hindi/chatisgadi/oriya language.

That was a very very scary incedent in my life, i never forget that.

God knows when these issue will solve. They are killing police/comman man in the name of mao revolution. No idea what they actually want , and how they bring changes in society by killing innocent people.

[ranjith.rajaram]

Originally Posted by KALINGA

God knows when these issue will solve. They are killing police/comman man in the name of mao revolution. No idea what they actually want , and how they bring changes in society by killing innocent people.

@ PYSO - pay attention to Kalinga's post, thats really scary . And if you are travelling with your family and in car please double check your route and time of travel. Its always better to reach the destination before 6 PM in these kind of situations.

[Devil on Wheels]

@PYSO: Pls do not carry any kind of weapon (fire arm/knives/baseball bats/etc). As Kalinga has said they were a group 25-30, trying to fight won't be a good idea. And if they see you carrying a weapon they might assume you are not a civilian and deal with you accordingly.

I am not sure if the people about whom Kalinga has spoken were actually Maoists. Never heard of Maoists asking for money. They either shoot you or they let you go. Whatever might be their objective (I don't care), Maoists don't beg for money. If they ask you to pay a tax or levi, they give you a proper receipt which you can produce if you come across any more maoists during ur trip and they would let you go.

My friends in Jharkhand who are into business (transporting coal, bauxite, iron ore, etc) pay these levies/taxes regularly and their vehicles never face any kind of trouble.

My guess is, the people Kalinga encountered were not Maoists. Probably some local goons, using the Maoists name to make a quick buck for themselves. But we can never know for sure.

Best way to deal with them is to take all necessary precautions, most importantly, travelling during broad day light. If you feel you can't reach Jamshedpur before sun-down, stay for the night at Sambalpur. And travel the remaining distance next day.

PS: Just checked google maps. It says 12-13 hour trip. Considering the condition of the roads, I would say 16-18 hours. Best way is to break your journey in two days.

[hvkumar]

Devil on Wheels gives you sound advice - never resist such groups, your life is more important than money. Don't try to be an activist on the highway, especially so far away from home. Don't run away, resort to violence even if the group is 5 or some smaller group. Remember, very few bystanders, if any, or cops will come forward to help when confronted with such large groups.

[KALINGA]

Originally Posted by Devil on Wheels

I am not sure if the people about whom Kalinga has spoken were actually Maoists. Never heard of Maoists asking for money. They either shoot you or they let you go. Whatever might be their objective (I don't care), Maoists don't beg for money. If they ask you to pay a tax or levi, they give you a proper receipt which you can produce if you come across any more maoists during ur trip and they would let you go.

My friends in Jharkhand who are into business (transporting coal, bauxite, iron ore, etc) pay these levies/taxes regularly and their vehicles never face any kind of trouble.

My guess is, the people Kalinga encountered were not Maoists. Probably some local goons, using the Maoists name to make a quick buck for themselves. But we can never know for sure.

Dear friend,

Previously they dont shoot to normal people. But if you come with police man/police informer then they fire you with other.

But now a days they shoot immediatly if they have any doubt of your identity.

I am not sure they are mao or some other group. They all loaded with autometic fire arms. Dont think the local goons not that capable to keep such arms. That area has only jungle, no mines are there. As per locals that jungle is the best place to hiding for those anti social Mao group.

The demanded money because we will do Barat procession in that area at late night and that will disturb the local people.

No idea if they give some receipt for such levi. At that time our main intention to escape from them ASAP.

Any one can understand the situation who came across such incidents.

[KALINGA]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Devil on Wheels gives you sound advice - never resist such groups, your life is more important than money. Don't try to be an activist on the highway, especially so far away from home. Don't run away, resort to violence even if the group is 5 or some smaller group. Remember, very few bystanders, if any, or cops will come forward to help when confronted with such large groups.

100 % right Sir.

The best / safest way is try to travel on daylight only in Mao affected area.

As per "Devil on Wheels" If you feel you can't reach Jamshedpur before sun-down, stay for the night at Sambalpur.

You can find good accomodation there. If you have time to spare then you can see HIRAKUD Dam ,SAMLESWARI temple.

[PYSO]

after hearing kalinga's experience and all your advices, I am seriously considering breaking the journey into two days, with a stoppover at sambalpur.

The total journey should take 15 or more hours considering the condition of the roads - so reaching jamshedpur before nightfall would be tricky.

probably going to start off on the 9th and reach Jamshedpur on the 10th

Will post details of the trip.

[PYSO]

I finally did the Raipur to Jamshedpur drive a few days ago. Will recount my experiences here, so that it will be helpful to others in the future.

Since the total journey was about 680 kms, it was nearly impossible to do it in a single day (considering the bad state of roads + fear of Maoist trouble

Initial plan was to drive upto Sambalpur (275 kms from Raipur) on day 1 and then proceed to Jamshedpur (410 kms from Sambalpur) on day2.

However, since I wanted to reach Jamshedpur early on day 2, I chose to drive upto Kendujhar (500 kms from Raipur) on day 1 and proceeded to Jamshedpur (180 kms from Kendujhar) on day 2.

Day 1 from Raipur to Kendujhar (500 kms) took 13 hours
Day 2 from Kendujhar to Jamshedpur (180 kms) took 5 hours

Route taken was
NH6 (565 kms) --- Raipur, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Kendujhar, Jashipur
SH (120 kms) --- Jashipur, Badampahar, Rairangpur, Tiring, Jamshedpur

Note: This route is also different from the intial plan which was to drive upto Kendujhar on NH6 and then take NH215 to Parsora, NH75 to Chaibasa, and then local road to Jamshedpur. The reason for changing the route is that truck drivers at Kendujhar informed us that NH215/NH75 till Chaibasa was in horrible condition and they suggested the route via Jashipur instead.

Note: The SH route Jashipur, Badampahar, Rairangpur, Tiring, Jamshedpur is shown on Google-maps only uptill Tiring. The Tiring to Jamshedpur section is not shown on Google-maps. I suspect that this section of the road is new (the condition of the road also suggested that it was a new section).

Road condition:


Raipur to Arang : good
Arang to Bargarh : Average (tarmac is broken at most places - but nothing really to worry about)
Bargarh to Sambalpur: Bad (tarmac broken at most places, with some sections full of large gutters, potholes)
Sambalpur to chandikhol: Horrible (most of this route is un-driveable. I stopped worrying about any damages that could occur to my car, and started worrying about if my back-bone would stay undamaged )
Chandikhol to Deogarh: Bad
Deogarh to Kendujhar : Mostly good / average (only some sections are bad).
Kendujhar to Jashipur : Mostly good / average (with a few bad sections)
Jashipur to Badampahar : Horrible (this is due to road widening / relaying - and this section is completely dug up. Many sections didnt have any tarmac and felt like off-roading).
Badampahar to Tiring: Good
Tiring to Jamshedpur: Excellent 2-lane road (only problem was that there were annoying humps every 1 km or so).


If anybody wishes to drive from Raipur to Jamshedpur in the near future, I would suggest the following route

NH6 from Raipur to Saraipalli
NH216 from Saraipalli to Sarangarh
NH200 from Sarangarh to Raigarh to Jharsaguda to Chandikhol (back on NH6)
NH6 from Chandikhol to Jashipur
SH from Jashipur to Badampahar to Rairangpur to Tiring to Jamshedpur

This should help avoid the most horrible stretches of road on NH6

[hvkumar]

Great commentary, PYSO. NH6 through Orissa is rarely in good shape nowadays, and I am surprised at the good road between Tiring and Jamshedpur. That road does not figure in the physical maps (there is a road from Tiring to Jamshedpur via Chaibasa) - are you talking of the Chaibasa-Jamshedpur road?

[hvkumar]

Where did you stay in Keonjhar?