Trucks carrying mining material damaging village roads, says MLA

Dinanagar sitting MLA Aruna Chaudhary has said that trucks carrying mining material are illegally plying on village link roads and, consequently, severely damaging these.

The legislator has written to senior administration officials in this regard.

Chaudhary said delegations of numerous villages had met her in recent days and given proof of the heavy damage being inflicted on these roads. An official of the district administration said he was aware of the situation and was looking into the matter.

Link roads are built and maintained by the Punjab State Agriculture Marketing Board, also called the Mandi Board, and act as a bridge between villages.

Sources said these trucks, a majority of which are coming from the Pathankot and Jammu side, were using these roads as an “escape route”.

The legislator said these roads were built according to particular specifications and could not sustain heavy traffic.

“Villagers say they are unable to use these link roads because of big potholes. Actually, some roads have neither been repaired nor reconstructed for a long time, hence their condition has worsened over the years,” said Chaudhary.

Officials admitted that these roads could be used to ferry agriculture-produce by tractor-trailer, but not for transporting mining material.