Chandigarh: Fund-starved MC plans to hand over 262km roads to UT admn
The move comes as the civic body continues to battle a shortage of funds, leaving essential road repairs in limbo for the second consecutive season
Having no funds for road repairs, the cash-strapped Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) is planning to transfer all V3 roads (sector dividing roads) under its jurisdiction—spanning 262 km—to the UT administration for carpeting and maintenance.
The proposal will be tabled for discussion and approval during the civic body’s general House meeting on Tuesday.
The move comes as the civic body continues to battle a shortage of funds, leaving essential road repairs in limbo for the second consecutive season. In a recent report, HT had highlighted the deteriorating condition of city roads, with a nearly 400-km network in urgent need of repairs. Despite completion of paperwork for major roadworks, tenders remain unopened due to a lack of financial resources.
According to the agenda document, MC officials said, “It has been deliberated in a meeting held on March 20, to transfer all V-3 roads under the jurisdiction of MC’s Building & Roads (B&R) wing to the UT engineering department for carpeting and maintenance. Due to scarcity of funds, the riding surface of these main roads need immediate attention. There are total 68 roads in V-3 head, totalling to 262 km length, and as per practice, the roads are carpeted after physical verification every five years and hence approximately 1/5th of the total length of these roads is carpeted every year.”
“But due to scarcity of funds, the work of carpeting of the last three years is pending. The total cost involved for carpeting these roads is approximately ₹ 26 crore,” MC clarified in the agenda.
The proposal, if approved, will shift the responsibility of maintaining these roads to the UT engineering department, potentially easing the financial burden on MC.
It is pertinent to mention that at present, the civic body maintains a road network of 2,000 km throughout Chandigarh. This includes various types of roads, such as V-3 (sector dividing road), V-4 (shopping street), V-5 (sector circulation road), V-6 (access roads to houses), and parking lots in various sectors, rehabilitation colonies and villages.
Road carpeting is typically carried out in the October-November and March-April periods, as these months provide the ideal weather conditions for the process. With no work done in the last carpeting cycle in 2024 amid the fiscal crunch, MC officials said if funds were not arranged soon, another crucial season will be lost, further worsening road conditions. With pothole repair work also halted, residents have been continuously lodging complaints through online portals and other channels, urging the civic body to take immediate action.
Other agendas for House meet
MC will table more agendas for discussion and approval in the House meeting, including charging private firms an “advertisement fee” for advertising and maintaining 35 roundabouts across the city. As per MC, request for proposal has been made, and a proposal will be made for paying licence fee per month per roundabout as offered in highest bidding. The fee will also be increased on a yearly basis at 10% per annum.
Also to address the issue of pending fire safety certificates, MC plans to make six-month validity of applications to initiate required necessary arrangements to remove the discrepancies to obtain the no-objection certificate, failing which the application will be automatically revoked and the fee submitted forfeited.
F&CC meeting tomorrow: Trees to be planted at Dadumajra landfill
The civic body will hold its finance and contract committee (F&CC) meeting on Monday and will table an agenda to plant trees and shrubs at Dadumajra dumping ground at a cost of ₹ 32 lakh. In the agenda, MC officials said there was a need for beautification of the dumping ground by landscaping and hence, there was a need for plantation of shrubs and other plants along the boundary wall. It will take around six months to complete the work.