Ludhiana residents fume over poor-quality roadwork, call it ‘wastage of funds’

The residents of Shastri Nagar, Model Town, Jawaddi Road, Kitchlu Nagar, and Sherpur Chowk, Ludhiana feel funds are wasted over poor-quality roadwork, which are hurriedly commissioned during state assembly polls

With the state assembly polls in the offing, MLAs and councillors are hurriedly commissioning developmental projects, but have failed to keep a tab on the quality of the work undertaken, which has left residents fuming over the waste of public funds.

Ludhiana officials had earlier landed in a soup over spending ₹212 crore on road repair and maintenance work from 2015 to 2020, as mentioned in a reply to a RTI application filed by a city-based activist. (HT Photo)

Locals say the material used to re-carpet the road in different areas, including Shastri Nagar, Model Town, Jawaddi Road, Kitchlu Nagar, and Sherpur Chowk, had started wearing down after a few days.

Political leaders, including senior deputy mayor Sham Sundar Malhotra, have also been complaining about the alleged inferior quality of work in the past. Malhotra had submitted a complaint regarding poor roadwork in Chaura Bazar last month.

Lok Insaaf Party councillor Swarandeep Chahal had alleged that inferior quality work had been done while re-carpeting the 7.5-km stretch of the Old GT Road from Sherpur Chowk to Jalandhar Bypass. The project had cost a whopping ₹11.64 crore.

Chahal said,”The project had kicked off in mid-November and the material had started peeling off a few days after a portion of the road from Sherpur Chowk to Dholewal Chowk was constructed. After a complaint was submitted, the authorities have now stopped work. The MC should keep a check on the quality of work, otherwise crores will go to waste.”

Balpreet Singh, a residents of Shastri Nagar (Block-B), said, “The road in our locality was constructed on November 28, but the material started wearing off the next day. Gravel is spread in the area and it seems like an inadequate amount of bitumen was used when preparing the hot-mix material. A large amount of money is spent on roads ahead of the assembly elections every five years, but no one keeps a check on quality, resulting in wastage of funds.”

In mid-November, RTI activist Arvind Sharma had also submitted a complaint saying that the hot-mix material had started peeling off a day after the Ludhiana Improvement Trust finished constructing the Model Town-Jawaddi Road.

Experts say two factors may be at play for the material wearing off within a few days. Council of engineers general secretary Sanjay Verma said, “The main reason is that the hot mix material may have been heated over 150°C at the plant itself. This causes the bitumen to burn and it loses its strength. The other reason can be that the material’s temperature may have dropped below 90°C, while it is being laid on the ground. The mercury is dipping ,but roads can be constructed if the temperature is above 10°C.”

MC additional commissioner Aaditya Dachalwal said that with the temperature falling, road construction works are taken up only after monitoring the weather conditions. “Regular monitoring of ongoing works on and MC commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal has also written to the state government requesting third-party inspection of the roads being constructed with MC funds. If residents have an issue in this regard, they should file a complaint and corrective steps will be taken. Action will also be taken against the contractor,” said Dachalwal.

Projects worth ₹270 crore approved

Municipal corporation officials say that road re-carpeting projects worth ₹270 crore have been approved in the past year and work on them is underway. Officials had earlier landed in a soup over spending ₹212 crore on road repair and maintenance work from 2015 to 2020, as mentioned in a reply to a RTI application filed by a city-based activist.

Officials, however, said that the entire amount was not spent on repairs but re-carpeting projects and other maintenance works were also included.