Malhar Road: Ludhiana MC launches operation 'cover-up'

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, February 22

Amid uproar over poor quality of workmanship and use of substandard material in the reconstruction and renovation of Malhar Road in Sarbaha Nagar here as a ‘smart road’, the Municipal Corporation, quietly but hurriedly, launched an operation to replace faulty or broken interlocking tiles and blocks apprehending third party inspection for checking of material and workmanship of the project at any time.

Council of Engineers (CoE) president Kapil Arora had gone live on Facebook to expose ‘operation cover-up’, which in all probability was forced on the construction agency by ‘conniving’ MC officials and supervisory officials of Ludhiana Smart City Limited. Arora showed live videos and pictures of labourers removing faulty and broken tiles and replacing these at several places across Malhar Road, as well as parking and walking areas in Sarabha Nagar (Kipps) Market.

Reminding the state government through the Principal Secretary, Local Government, Punjab, that he had served a notice on poor workmanship and use of substandard material in execution of this particular project under the Smart City mission, Arora asked in another complaint to the Local Government Department as to why action was not being taken against the contractor for poor workmanship and use of substandard material and why conniving officials were not being held accountable for their negligence.

Arora had recently lodged a complaint with the government that even before completion of the work on Malhar Road, the upper layer of pre-cast block pavers had started peeling off and interlocking tiles had started breaking down or dislocating.

He reiterated his assertion that quality control of the project, both at the levels of the construction agency and the MC officials was lacking and it seemed evident that the quality of material used by the agency was not tested with regard to specifications laid down in the work order and stipulated strength for durability which called for a high-level probe and appropriate action against the guilty.

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