Railon Khurd residents repair road as PWD falters

Arun Sharma

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Tribune News Service

Ropar, September 11

After waiting for the repair of the Morinda-Ropar road by the Public Works Department (PWD) for the past three years, residents of Railon Khurd village have started filling the potholes. They said despite their repeated requests, the authorities did nothing.

Advocate Jaswant Singh, a resident of the village, said that the 12-km stretch from Ropar to Morinda was damaged in 2014 due to heavy traffic. He said to avoid tax on the toll plaza near Ropar, tippers loaded with sand and gravel used this road, damaging it. He said following their frequent visits to the senior officials of the Ropar administration and the PWD, Mohali, the repair work was allotted to a contractor two years ago in 2015.

Even after two years, the contractor did not repair the road, said Jaswant Singh. The advocate said many local residents were injured in mishaps die to the damaged road. While contractor Sunny Bansal of NH Construction Company did not pick his phone, PWD subdivisional officer Tarsem Raj said the tender for the repair of road was allotted to Bansal in December 2015. He stopped work in August after repairing five kilometers on the Morinda side. “The department slapped a penalty on him for the delay,” said the SDO. “The repair work was also hit due to a shortage of funds. Now, the contractor has agreed to start the work,” he added.