Shopkeepers suffer as Majitha Road yet to be re-carpeted

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 9

Shopkeepers on Majitha Road are at the receiving end as the road in front of their shops from Power Colony to Bypass Chowk has not been re-carpeted. The road was dug up around eight months ago. The traders said they had been facing a huge financial loss due to the slow pace of work.

The Sewerage Board had dug up Majitha Road to lay a sewage line under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) project in February. Last month, the board completed its work. Now, the Public Works Department have to level the road and re-carpet it.

Even after a month, the firm hired by the PWD failed to level road.

Ravinder Sultanwind, a social activist, said, “After digging up the road, the authorities forgot to re-carpet it. It took eight months to lay a sewage line on the stretch of 1.5 km. More than 200 shopkeepers have been facing a tough time due to the dug-up road. They have been sitting idle at their shops, but they are paying all taxes, bills and rents. The government has ruined 500 families depended on these commercial establishments. The contractor did not remove heaps of sand from the road till date.”

“The business has been affected since the government started the project. The road in front of my shop was dug up. A sewage line was to be laid,” said a shopkeeper, Ashok Mahajan.

Meanwhile, the construction firm owner said a gas pipeline was being laid so the re-carpeting work got delayed.

Rajiv, the owner of the constriction firm, said, “There is no delay in the work. The Sewerage Board handed over the road on Diwali. Now, the work on laying the gas pipeline is going on. As soon as the work is finished, we will start filling stones. We will complete it within a month. The road will get ready by February-end.”

The road connects hundreds of villages and Majitha to the holy city. Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, one of major hospitals of the city, is also located here. 

The movement of ambulances has also been affected for the past eight months. A large number of people commute on the road every day.