Dug up stretch near Putlighar Chowk turns accident prone

The potholed stretch on Putlighar Chowk leading towards Islamabad area has turned into an accident-prone area because of incessant rains since early morning.

Now, the road was recently dug up for repair of the sewerage, but that led to the contamination of the water supply. Further compounding the situation, a gas pipeline was also punctured during the repair works.

Besides the commuters, the shopkeepers on the stretch also stand inconvenienced.

“Things are much worse than they seem to be,” Harjinder, an e-rickshaw driver who frequently passes through the stretch, said. Due to big potholes, the e-rickshaws ferrying passengers often lose balance and fall on the side, he added.

The repair works have been going on for nearly a month. Ideally, the road should have been repaired by now, Ashok Kumar, a shopkeeper, said.

Motorists and pedestrians had skidded a couple of times as the road has become mucky. The sluggish pace of work has been badly affecting our businesses also. Residents avoid taking this road due to the persistent traffic mess here.

Putlighar Chowk is one of the busiest rotaries in the city because of the presence of big markets of garments and other goods. A rehri market is also located near the chowk. Rampant encroachments on roads made it narrow.

Pawan Chaudhry, husband of the present councillor Neeraj Chaudhry, pointed out that due to the mess of various haphazardly laid underground pipelines, including high voltage wires, gas pipelines, the repair works have lingered on.

Now, the work has completed that complaints of chocked sewerage and contaminated water supply has been solved. As far as the repair of road is concerned, the rains have caused the delay, he said.

“It is our priority to mitigate the problem being faced by residents and shopkeepers. After the rains, the road would also be repaired,” he said.