Chandigarh residents blame councillors for dilapidated roads in city

Many residents of the city have blamed the adamant attitude of councillors for the worst condition of the roads in the city this monsoon. They say had the councillors not rejected the agenda for handing over V3 roads to the UT Administration for maintenance four months ago, their condition would not have deteriorated during rains, causing inconvenience to people.

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An agenda was brought before the General House during a meeting on March 25 to hand over V3 roads to the Chandigarh Administration as the Municipal Corporation (MC) was facing financial crisis. However, all councillors cutting across party lines rejected it.

V3 roads are sector-dividing roads and were given to the MC along with other departments and roads when it came into existence. When the agenda was discussed in the General House, MC Commissioner Amit Kumar had apprised the members that V3 roads were not recarpeted for the past three years. He had stated that earlier, the work on V3 road was transferred to the Administration and later returned to the MC.

Kumar had said in view of its financial condition, it was very difficult for the MC to incur a huge expenditure on the maintenance of V3 roads, which should be transferred to the Administration.

Even the Mayor was keen on handing over these roads to the Administration only for maintenance, but councillors rejected the agenda.

A majority of the councilors were of the view that the MC should not transfer its rights to the UT Administration. They said they would not allow their rights to be given to the Administration and wanted the UT to release funds to the civic body for road recarpeting work.

Baljinder Singh Bittu, president, Federation of Sector Welfare Associations, Chandigarh (FOSWAC), said councillors must stop playing power politics over roads. He said had the agenda to hand over the V3 roads to the Administration been approved in March, the problem would not have arisen. He said the condition of roads had been deteriorating day by day.

RK Garg, president, Second Innings Association, criticised both the Administration and the MC for the conditions of roads in the city. He said on the one hand, councillors were not ready to hand over roads to the Administration, while on the other, the UT was not giving money to the civic body. He said both the UT Administration and councillors must take decisions in the interest of city residents.

Repair work begins

Meanwhile, the MC Engineering Department has started the repair work of caves-ins across the city. The work started soon after Chief Secretary Rajeev Verma directed the MC and UT officials to repair all damaged roads in 15 days.