Gill Road interlocking tile work under scanner

Kuldip Bhatia

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Ludhiana, April 9

The shabby and allegedly sub-standard work of laying interlocking tiles on Gill Road here is once again in the news as Major-Gen VK Bhat, Technical Adviser to the Punjab Chief Minister, today visited the site and and asked the officers concerned for some documents related to the project.

The work, allotted to a politically connected contractor, had hogged the limelight on several occasions. Independent legislator (rebel SAD leader) Simarjeet Singh Bains and certain city-based RTI activists have pointed a finger at the construction agency and certain officials of the Municipal Corporation.

Sources in the MC pointed out that 45 per cent of the allotted work had been carried out by the contractor and proportionate payment had also been released to him reportedly under pressure from the top functionaries of the government.

Officials of the building and roads branch of the MC said the contractor had defaulted on execution of the work as the stipulated time for its completion had long since over. “The work has come to a standstill. But we can do nothing about it for the fear of earning the wrath of our senior officials and political masters,” said an official.