Relief from bumpy ride not soon; Chandigarh MC to recarpet broken roads next month

Tribune News Service

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, February 17

City residents will have to bear with broken roads for now as the MC will start re-carpeting these next month. The work was stopped in November owing to winter season when the weather is not conducive for road works.

Roads in the Sector 7 inner market are badly broken. In Mani Majra, the road connecting the Modern Housing Complex from the Housing Board Chowk is in a bad shape. Several stretches in southern sectors give bumpy rides to commuters. A big broken road patch in front of the sports stadium in Sector 51 has not been repaired for long. It was not fixed even in the last fiscal despite complaints from the residents.

Similarly, the authorities have turned a blind eye to the road separating Sector 50 and Model Burail Jail, which is in a shambles for a long time. The Sector 53/54 furniture market road, near the Sector 26 grain market and the road separating Sector 29 and 30 are full of potholes.

“Roads are in a bad shape everywhere in the city. The quality of material used in re-carpeting work at some places is apparently substandard considering the fact that roads relaid just a year ago have started to break,” said Baljinder Singh Bittu, chairman, Federation of Sector Welfare Associations Chandigarh.

RK Garg, president of a city-based senior citizens’ association, said, “By seeing the plight of roads we get to know that we have entered Chandigarh from Haryana. Earlier, it used to be vice-versa. By talking of weather condition they are only evading the matter. Every year, time gets wasted in tendering process and later rain or winter season blamed for no work.”

However, MC officials said they had to follow all guidelines and look at technical aspects while carrying out the works.

MC Commissioner Anindita Mitra said, “The re-carpeting work will start in March when the weather is sunny, otherwise, roads will start breaking. This fiscal, we have earmarked Rs15 crore for re-carpeting of roads. We will do assessment to plan the work.”

Crying for repair

Roads in the Sector 7 inner market are badly broken. In Mani Majra, the road connecting the Modern Housing Complex from the Housing Board Chowk is in a bad shape. Several stretches in southern sectors give bumpy rides to commuters. A big broken road patch in front of the sports stadium in Sector 51 has not been repaired for long. It was not fixed even in the last fiscal despite complaints from the residents.

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