Careless dumping of debris poses threat to commuters

Tribune News Service

Shivani Bhakoo

Ludhiana, September 2

Indiscriminate dumping of construction waste on service roads has become a bane for commuters, besides congesting roads in the city. The construction of overbridges in different parts of the city has resulted in the accumulation of huge amounts of solid waste, comprising concrete chunks containing iron rods, stones, sand, gravel and bricks.

No relief from the problem is expected in the near future as the completion of these bridges will take around one year more. The debris has shrunk the space on the already congested city roads posing grave danger to commuters.

The service roads opposite Punjab Agricultural University, Bharat Nagar Chowk and Ferozepur Road are chocked with debris hampering the smooth flow of the traffic. At many places, the construction waste can be seen scattered on the roads forcing motorists to drive on the wrong side to avoid these service lanes.

Satish Kumar, a shopkeeper in Bharat Nagar Chowk, said both the service lanes are badly damaged. Traffic jams are common here, Kumar added.

Vikas Gupta, a resident, said, “I had a narrow escape as I failed to notice an iron barricade right in the middle of the road. You park your vehicle outside the PAU Gate No. 2 and within 30 minutes it will be covered with dust and sand,” he rued.

‘Not our job to clear it’

Krishan Sachdeva, project director, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), said the NHAI is responsible to lift only the waste material from the roads dug by authorities and they were regularly trying to clear it. Many shopkeepers had started their constructions and their waste material was dumped on the roads for which the NHAI had no concern. This was to be picked by shopkeepers or the MC authorities. Secondly, the roads, where overbridges were coming, were broken during construction and NHAI was carpeting those on regular basis. The recarpeting work will be accomplished soon, he said.

Meanwhile, MP Sanjiv Arora said he was having several rounds of meetings with NHAI and district administration officers on the same issue. “Last meeting was held on August 25 and they had taken 7-10 days time to remove the construction material lying on the roads. We hope that issue will be resolved soon”, said Arora.

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