Colony residents complain poor repair work in Ludhiana

Kuldip Bhatia
Ludhiana, October 27

Even though the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) has nearly completed the repair and re-carpeting work of most of the main and feeder roads in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar Colony on the Pakhowal road here, most of the relaid roads still present a picture of poor workmanship and quality.

Some of the roads have already started peeling off, while at a few places, road gullies have caved in. At the same time, some roads in the G and H blocks are yet to be carpeted, causing inconvenience to the residents.

Residents of the colony complain that initially the project for the repair and carpeting of roads was delayed for several months even after formal inauguration for reasons best known to LIT officials. To make matters worse, the work was carried out in a shabby manner.

“Due to the lack of proper supervision by LIT officials and field staff, the roads have been carpeted using sub-standard material and poor workmanship,” complain residents of the D-block where top surface of the main road has started peeling off and lose gravel is visible at several places.

Similarly, in the E-block where road carpeting work was recently completed, road gullies have crumbled and caved in at many places. The area residents claim that the attention of the LIT officials was drawn several times towards the poor quality of work, but no steps were taken and the contractors had got away with the shabby road work, alleged Arvind Sharma, Amarjit Singh and Balraj Chopra, residents of the E-block.

This was not the end of the woes for the residents who have also to bear the brunt of roads which were yet to be carpeted. “Road from the Sunet level crossing towards the H-block lie in a pathetic condition and are worse than a dirt track. Pot holes, lose gravel and flying dust greet the road users, with two-wheelers prone to slipping and accidents,” said residents of the colony.

The LIT engineer Buta Ram said some roads were yet to be carpeted and the process was on for tendering and issuing work orders for the pending road projects. On the quality of the carpeted road, he said the field staff had been directed to inspect each and every stretch and submit report of deficiency, if any, in the work done by the contractors.