Minister monitors sampling of highway material in Abohar

Our Correspondent

Abohar, May 14

Public Works Department Minister Vijay Inder Singla along with Principal Secretary Hussan Lal and Chief Engineer PS Chahal on Monday afternoon monitored the sampling of material by the Quality Control Wing team on the highway near new grain market here.

Residents who assembled on the highway told Singla that the construction of rainwater channel on both sides of the highway was so poor that it leaked and flooded basements of some shops with sewage during the trial run. The material used to construct the divider was visibly poor. The team took samples of the cement concrete tiles and removed some of them to check the quality of cement-gravel mixture used to fix them. The sampling of pre-mix carpet was also done.

The work was started a few months before the Vidhan Sabha elections but going on at a snail’s pace. The minister was noticed censuring the contractor.

Speaking to the media, Singla said a Rs 267-crore project was submitted to NABARD for construction of roads in the first phase. Another project of Rs 150 crore would be submitted soon. “We expect to get Rs 425 crore from NABARD to repair link roads in rural areas. The work on the fourth phase of the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna is also expected to be launched soon to construct 3,000-km length of roads. The state will contribute 40 per cent share in the total cost. Rs 2,000 crore is expected from the World Bank also,” he added.