Cracks appear within four months of repair

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, October 25

Shopkeepers as well as commuters are a harried lot as the recently repaired road near Darshan Singh Kaypee Chowk, Model Town, has developed cracks at several places.

Local residents said the road was repaired nearly four months ago, but it started peeling off within a few days due to "substandard material" used in re-carpeting.

They said the patchwork had been carried out a number of times to fill potholes and repair the broken stretches, but it did not last even a month due to poor quality of work and lack of proper supervision.

“Though it is one of the busiest roads in the town having a large number of commercial outlets and restaurants, a long stretch on either side of the roundabout is lying peeled off.Commuters on two-wheelers face a tough time crossing the uneven surface scattered with stones”, said Kavita, who works at a saloon in the area.

She said the road was the main route to Gol Market, Green Model Town locality and other residential colonies, but the Municipal Corporation had failed to maintain it

Commuters said despite repeated complaints regarding the poor condition of the road, nothing had been done so far. “Vehicles often get stuck leading to a traffic jam. Accidents, including fatal ones, have become common on this stretch. Even light showers lead to waterlogging in the area. The councillor has taken up the issue with the civic body on several occasions, but to no avail,” said Archana Singh, a commuter.

She said people continued to pay taxes, but the government had failed to provide safe roads.

Councillor Rohan Sehgal too complained of the "lackadaisical" attitude of the authorities concerned and said though the road was repaired just four months ago, it had peeled off at several places. Shopkeepers in the area had complained to him about the poor quality of material used. “I brought the matter to the notice of the XEN concerned, but no action was taken," he added.

Rajnish Dogra, Superintending Engineer (B&R), could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. However, Mayor Jagdish Raja said the civic body had carried out the re-carpeting work with the utmost sincerity and proper supervision. “There is no point of low quality material used. The road has been broken by the MC for laying the rain harvesting system. We will look into the issue," he added.

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