Residents allege substandard street work, 2 probes marked

Interlock tiles broken before project completion

Tribune News Service

Malout, September 10

The construction work of streets using interlock tiles has come under lens in Malout town. The Municipal Council is the executing agency, which has allotted the work to some private contractors.

However, after some local residents complained of substandard work, the Department of Local Government and the Deputy Commissioner have marked two probes. Earlier, Shubhdeep Singh Bittu, President, Malout Municipal Council, had also taken note of the complaints.

Some residents said the construction of streets was still under way but in some parts of the town, the interlock tiles had either broken or potholes had emerged.

On this, Vishal Deep Bansal, Executive Officer (EO), Malout Municipal Council, said, “The head office has marked a probe to the municipal engineer. However, the contractor is liable if the streets have broken somewhere. These are being repaired. The rainy season is going on, so there may have been a problem somewhere. However, the truth will come out in the probe report.”

He said the Deputy Commissioner had also marked a probe to the local SDM, who had further made a three-member committee consisting of tehsildar, SDO (B&R) and SDO (Punjab Mandi Board). Gopal Singh, SDM, Malout, said, “After getting the complaint, we have formed a committee of technical experts.” Sources said the payment of the work executing firms had also been stopped for a while.