This killer stretch has claimed more than 25 accidents in the past one and half year and the entire stretch was mired in controversy with the National Highway authorities bluntly refusing to do anything about the road owing to ``lack of funds.''

The cantonment board, however, responded to the situation and agreed to take up the project at a cost of Rs 17 lakh. Barely had work on the stretch begun when the contractor put in shoddy work and allegedly began cheating on the quality of work. Complaints about the sizes of the tiles and the make-shift arrangement by the contractor became noisier following which work was called off for a long spell.

For months together, motorists passing through this stretch had to put up with the pile of debris and the tiles strewn across in a careless manner. A few more accidents later, the matter came up in the board meeting when the elected members urged the former cantonment executive officer Ajay Kumar to complete the project on a priority basis. The work was given to the same contractor to avoid calling for fresh tenders. This time, however, the cantonment board has given time-frame of three months to complete work on the divider.

Vice-president of the Khadki Cantonment Board William Smith said that the work has finally begun and hoped that this time there would be no hiccups.