PWD workers pressed into service to repair Kasauli road

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, October 19

PWD employees were pressed into service to initiate the repair of the Parwanoo-Jangeshu-Kasauli-Dharampur road after a private contractor who was given a contract worth Rs 7.35 crore for the task failed to initiate the work.

The abysmally poor execution and equally poor monitoring by the field staff of the PWD has defeated the very purpose of strengthening the three roads within the timeline.

JP Structures was assigned the task worth Rs 18 crore to repair three alternate roads in January 2017 and the work was supposed to be completed within a year. These roads — 29.4-km Parwanoo-Jangeshu-Kasauli-Dharampur road, the 13-km Kamli-Bhojnagar road and the 14-km Chakki-Bhojnagar road — were supposed to provide an alternate route to the motorists while the four-laning of the Parwanoo-Solan stretch of National Highway-05 was being executed.

The contractor, however, not only failed to complete the task but did not execute any work since November 2017. Though 90 per cent work on the Kamli-Bhojnagar road and Chakki-Bhojnagar road was complete, about 9 km of the most crucial Parwanoo-Jangeshu-Kasauli-Dharampur Road was left incomplete. Even the work executed on the remaining stretch had with major defects. Gaping crevices had appeared within days on this road due to the substandard construction. Big potholes were visible on nearly 2.5 kms stretch.

The abysmally poor execution and equally bad monitoring by the field staff of the PWD has defeated the very purpose of strengthening the three roads within the due timeline. Instead of ensuring maintenance of quality the field staff of the PWD merely chose to turn a blind eye to the substandard execution of the work ever since it had begun. Though a hefty monetary penalty was imposed on the contractor it has failed to ensure quality work. Executive Engineer, PWD, Kasauli Division, Ravi Bhatti, said a fresh recommendation has been sent to the Superintending Engineer to terminate his contract on October 15. Since weather will become inclement due to falling temperature, the department had deployed its own labour and material to repair the road.

A letter has also been written to the erring contractor stating that the costs of this work would be deducted from his payment as he had failed to begin any repair work as stated by him.

This was despite the fact that the erring contractor had also given an affidavit in the state high court to begin repair work. As per the terms of the contract the roads were supposed to be repaired and then maintained for three years.

The condition of this road had worsened in the rains and inordinate delay has defeated the very purpose of decongesting the national highway which continued to bear the high volume of traffic with landslides making driving risky.