Power Colony-Bypass Chowk stretch in bad shape

Charanjit Singh Teja

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 12

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 a year ago. The traders said they had been facing financial losses as the slow pace of the work had hit their businesses. The Sewerage Board had dug up Majitha Road to lay a sewage line under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) project in February last year.

Around three months ago, the Sewerage Board had completed its work. Now, the Public Works Department has to re-carpet it. Even after passing several months, the firm hired by the PWD failed to lay the road.

Ravinder Sultanwind, a social activist, who had staged a protest twice demanding recarpeting of the road, said, “After digging up the road, the authorities forgot to re-carpet it. It took eight months to lay a sewerage line on the 1.5-km stretch. 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 level 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 sewerage line was to be laid,” said shopkeeper Davinder Sharma. 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. Ambulance drivers face difficulty in reaching hospitals.