Ludhiana roads remain treacherous despite ₹630cr spending

From main roads to residential areas and markets of the city, the sad state persists despite the civic body sparing no expense

The Ludhiana municipal corporation (MC) has spent around ₹630 crore on streets and roads over the last five years but to no avail as harried motorists continue to navigate haphazard construction and pothole-riddled roads. The roads are all the more treacherous after rainfall with those on two-wheelers risking life and limb.

Rains make roads more dangerous for two-wheeler riders. (Harsimar Pal Singh/HT)

From the main roads to residential areas and the markets of the city, the sad state persists despite the civic body sparing no expense. An average ₹126 crore (including municipal funds and Punjab Infrastructure Development Board grants) has been spent on upgrading the roadways each year since 2015. A record ₹219 crore was spent on developing road infrastructure in 2016-17 during the SAD-BJP regime.

The worn down and broken roads continue to blight the industrial and financial hub of the state, which is visited by a slew of customers, businessmen and industrialists on a daily basis, bringing into question the state’s largest local body’s ability to keep a check on quality and internal corruption. At present, the MC is working to avail ₹100 crore loan for taking up development projects in the city.

An MC official , who did not wish to be named, said, “There has been no check on the quality of development work. The alleged nexus between councillors, senior officials and contractors allows shoddy work to pass muster.”

‘MC steeped in corruption’

“In fact, contractors allegedly pay a fixed commission to officials and office-bearers to avert action. In the last week of October, a group of municipal corporation engineers also approached cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu and mayor Balkar Sandhu and demanded that the MC stop the inquiry into already completed the development projects,” the official said, adding that no proper drainage system and the absence of a storm water sewer contributed to accelerated wear and tear.

MC commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal said,”I cannot comment on development works conducted before I was posted in the city. However, now we conduct regular sampling and monitoring. Payments to contractors have been stopped after samples failed quality test. Some contractors have been asked to reconstruct roads in the past and errant contractors will be blacklisted, if they fail to work efficiently.”

Mayor Balkar Sandhu said,”Contractors and officials have been given clear instructions to not compromise with the quality of work and efficiency has also improved of late. Cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu has also been conducting surprise inspections to check quality of work. While contractors are being forced to reconstruct the inferior quality roads, a number of inquiries have also been marked in road constructions projects taken up in the past. ”

Parcelling out blame, the MC commissioner said, “Residents are also responsible for the short life of roads as cars are washed along roads and the accumulated water damages the material.”

Gurjot Singh, a resident of Salem Tabri area, said,”The civic body has been wasting taxpayers money on constructing roads just to woo the public before elections, but no one keeps a check on the quality. The main roads still get the attention of the civic body officials, but no one cares for internal roads and streets.”

Samples fail quality test

In July, seven samples collected from Amantran Colony, Guru Vihar, Chander Nagar, Bal Singh Nagar Road, Ashok Nagar, Daba Road and a road near GNE College (towards Dugri) failed the test. Samples collected from a stretch near RK Road, Circular Road near Daresi Ground and Baba Mukand Singh Nagar had also been found specious.

Seven out of eight road samples of RMC roads collected from Balbir enclave in the Haibowal area also failed the quality test. Following the complaint filed by a RTI activist, the vigilance bureau had also sought an action taken report from the MC in the case wherein the samples have failed the quality test. Despite ringing demand to blacklist errant contractors no such action has been taken.

Irregular records

The MC has also failed to maintain records of development projects taken up in the past and officials have no record of which road was constructed in what year, resulting in wastage of public money as development projects are proposed in the same area frequently.

Jaskirat Singh of the NGO Naroa Punjab Manch said it is necessary to keep the records as in absence of the same MC will not be able to check whether the service life of a road has expired or not.

During the MC’s general house meet held on November 10, Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) councillor Swarandeep Chahal raised an objection stating that the MC officials had installed new interlocking tiles on existing tiles even when the existing tiles were in good shape.

To exacerbate matters, over 600 measurement books (MB) issued to staffers in the past have not been returned and many of them are missing from the record.

The MC officials must mention details of construction projects in the MB books on a daily basis in order to make payments to contractors. After a complaint was submitted by an RTI activist regarding the same, Sabharwal marked an inquiry into the matter.