Deadline ends today, Airport Road still not motorable

Akash Ghai

Tribune News Service

Mohali, December 14

The deadline set by the Punjab Chief Minister’s special committee to make Airport Road’s six kilometre portion from Airport Chowk to the Landran-Banur road T-point (PR-9) motorable, is over. The road is lying closed. Even the repair work on it is yet to start.

After missing the deadline, the GMADA authorities claimed that the repair work would start as soon as the weather improved.

“The contractor, who had earlier constructed the stretch, has agreed to do the repair work free of cost. We will have to wait till the weather improves,” claimed GMADA Chief Engineer SK Kansal. Notably, the stretch in question was closed by the authorities on September 18 following a series of fatal accidents due to the pathetic condition of the road.

Later, Punjab Chief Minister capt Amarinder Singh had set up a four-member committee, comprising Chief Minister’s technical adviser Lt Gen BS Dhaliwal, Chief Engineer of the National Highway and PWD (B&R) AK Singla, Chief Engineer (GMADA) Sunil Kansal and Principal Scientist and head of the Flexible Pavements Division of Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) Manoj Kumar Shukla, in the last week of September to suggest remedial measures to GMADA in the case.

The committee had suggested four remedial measures with directions to the GMADA authorities to make the road motorable by December 15 this year.

The GMADA authorities, who maintained that the stretch had been “founded on black cotton soil” thus is beyond repair, actually wanted the contractor to repair and reconstruct the road free of cost, which the latter had denied and left the GMADA authorities in a fix.

Now, Kansal claimed that the contractor had agreed to repair the stretch free of cost. Kansal added that the contractor had recently dug up the road at some spots.

According to design specifications, the road was to be constructed after digging a one-metre-deep trench by removing black cotton soil and then filling it up with “sandy strata”. Apparently, the trench was not dug up and the road was constructed on black cotton soil, indicating embezzlement of funds and irregularities in the construction of the road.

The measures that the committee directed GMADA to take included the patch work and crack sealing as per the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (India) specifications, provide sub-grade, base course and bituminous course wherever distress failure has occurred, laying of profile correction course (PCC) with specified bitumen wherever required and micro-surfacing in stretches that have small cracks.

Stretch was closed on September 18

• Notably, the stretch in question was closed by the authorities on September 18 following a series of fatal accidents due to the pathetic condition of the road. 
• Later, Punjab Chief Minister capt Amarinder Singh had set up a four-member committee  to suggest remedial measures to GMADA in the case. 
• The committe had suggested four remedial measures with directions to the GMADA authorities to make the road motorable by December 15 this year.