City development authority in a tight spot

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, December 15

Cracks developing at several places, plaster peeling off and edges of the roundabout giving way just after a couple of days of completion of construction work on Phullanwala Chowk on Pakhowal Road here is a classic example of ‘poor material’ used and the ‘poor workmanship’ by most contractors while executing works on behalf of government departments.

Most of the times, the erring contractors get away with it but since the roundabout has cracked within a short span of time, the contractor seems to have been caught in the act. Construction of the roundabout and road work on this stretch was carried out by the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA).

Kapil Arora, a professional engineer and general secretary of Valuers Association, maintains that the cracks had developed in brick work due to poor workmanship as well as poor quality of material used in construction. Further, it seems that the construction agency as well as the department (GLADA in this case) did not allow the wall to gain strength after construction.

It is absolutely clear that the plaster had come off due to continuous earth pressure from inside and since enough time was not given for the wall to gain strength, the cracks have developed at many spots on the wall, he added.

Arora pointed pot that rainwater created earth pressure from inner side (earth filling within the roundabout) resulting in cracks in the wall.

“It is a matter of investigation that how the department concerned and its officials allowed such poor material to be used in construction. The samples of material used in construction must be tested in a laboratory,” he said.

He said the excuse of the officials that some heavy vehicle might have hit the newly constructed roundabout did not hold water as in such a case bricks used in construction of wall would have lost their position and outer wall would have deformed/broken at point of impact.

Arora further observed that before earth filling, the brickwork ought to have been cured (seven days watering and next seven days drying), which apparently was not done in this case

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