Brace for a bumpy ride on city roads this monsoon

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 14

With the onset of the monsoon, the road recarpeting work, that was going on at a slow pace, will now come to a halt.

The full-fledged work will now start after the monsoon around September as the rainy season is not conducive to carrying out recarpeting work.

Though the local Municipal Corporation had claimed that it would identify and first recarpet the worst-affected roads, some badly broken roads have been left out by it.

In a random check, it was seen that the road separating Sector 55 and 56, which connects Chandigarh and Mohali, is in a shambles. The Sector 55 stretch has big potholes and one has to drive slowly to avoid accidents.

“It has been over a year since this stretch has been crying for repairs. One cannot cross this road. People avoid entering this stretch. Though inner roads in our area were recently recarpeted, no heed was paid to this particular stretch,” said Joginder Singh, general secretary, Residents Welfare Association (RWA), Sector 56.

Another road stretch at the furniture market in Sector 52-53, which also connects the two cities, also has several potholes. The condition of several roads in the Industrial Area, Phase 1, near the CTU workshop and on the rear side of the Sector 40 market are also in bad shape.

“During rain, water gets accumulated on these roads, inconveniencing residents. The condition of the roads is worsening, but the MC has failed to carry out repair work before the monsoon,” said VN Sharma, president, RWA, Sector 40.

The road work had earlier started late due to a fund crunch being faced by the MC at that time. The civic body now has dedicated funds.

Road works at a cost of Rs80 crore were to be carried out during the financial year. However, little work could be carried out as the monsoon already arrived yesterday, which is early.

MC Chief Engineer Shailender Singh claimed, “Due to rain in May and June, our work got hit. We could complete only 25 per cent of the job. During the monsoon, though recarpeting work stops, but we may carry out some work if we get seven to 10-day dry spell.”