A tale of substandard work, poor raw material & neglect

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar October 27

Rutted roads around Workshop Chowk tell a tale of poor raw material, substandard work, and utter lack of monitoring. Though the re-carpeting work has been carried out on this stretch several times, cracks start appearing within a few days of repair.

The area houses the mobile market, a hotel, fruits and vegetable market, temples and garment stores. The stretch from Old GT Road till Workshop Chowk-Old Jail is filled with potholes. The material mixed with gravel is lying scattered at several places, risking the lives of commuters, especially two-wheeler riders.

The lanes leading to Patel Chowk are also in bad shape. A number of potholes popped up during the monsoon, but the authorities are yet to take any action. The main road in the police division number 2 area is broken at several places. Long queues of vehicles can be seen on the stretch during morning and evening rush hours.

Although the plying of overloaded and heavy vehicles is banned on this stretch, which is supposed to be used by the city traffic only, no rules are being followed in the absence of any check.

Last month, a youth was killed after his two-wheeler was hit by a truck near Workshop Chowk. Fatal accidents have become a routine affair in the area, but the authorities seem to be in a deep slumber. An employee at a petrol station, near Patel Chowk, says due to broken roads, vehicles often ram into each other, leading to fights.

When the re-carpeting was being carried out, residents had urged contractors not to fill in deep depressions with sand, but they did not pay heed to their repeated pleas. Rather poor quality concrete was used to fill the patches, which had now come off at several places, he added.

Residents said the poor quality of work had exposed the tall claims of the civic body with regard to using good quality material for the patchwork. Sand used in the concrete had made the roads dusty and scattered stones and pebbles had turned these into accident zones.

Dalbir Singh, a resident of the Old Jail area, said: “It has become difficult to drive on such dilapidated roads every day. Monsoon rains have added to the woes and scattered concrete has made the things worse.” Another commuter, Dharampal Singh, said, “My vehicle has broken down on this stretch several times.”

The worst affected are those commuting to Dolphin Hotel, Gurmandi, Mai Hiran Gate, Workshop Chowk-Grain market-Ramnagar Phatak and the DAV-Maqsudan road via this stretch. Commuters said the contractors should be held responsible for the poor state of roads.

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