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Ludhiana road cave-in plays spoilsport for shopkeepers this Dhanteras
Ruing losses at Dhanteras, shopkeepers slammed the Ludhiana civic body for the ‘slow pace’ of repair work at road cave-in site
At a time when festive fervour has taken over the city and shopkeepers appear joyful after witnessing heavy rush of customers in the markets on Dhanteras, those on the main Deep Nagar road are in distress as their business took a hit following the road cave-in incident.
The road has been closed due to ongoing repair works after a major portion of road caved in on October 3 wherein three persons, including two students, had a narrow escape, after they fell into the crater.
Shopkeepers could be seen sitting idle outside their shops on Tuesday. Ruing losses, they slammed the civic body for the ‘slow pace’ of repair work. They said the Ludhiana municipal corporation has failed to repair the damaged portion of the road in the last six days and another stretch has further been dug for installing a new sewer line in the area.
A jeweller near the cave-in site, Sanjay Sood, said, “We witness heavy rush of customers on Dhanteras as it is believed that purchasing gold and silver is auspicious on this day. But this year, not a single customer showed up at the shop till afternoon as the passage has been blocked. This is the main road of the area and a large number of residents move use this. The authorities should have repaired the road at the earliest, but they are rather delaying the work, which is condemnable. Few shopkeepers in the area are not even able to open their shops which are situated adjoining the cave-in site.”
Expressing resentment, the shopkeepers said the pandemic and financial crises had taken a toll on their business last year and when they expected it to improve, the apathy of the civic body compounded their misery.
A garment shop owner, Akshit Khurana, said, “Every business witnesses a boost during the festival season, but no customer has stepped into our shops for the last three to four days. One side of the road towards Deep Nagar is open, but the commuters do not enter the passage due to blockage.”
The road blockade has further added to the woes of those shopkeepers who are running their business on rented accommodation.
“How will the shopkeepers pay their rent and bear the household expenses if they are not even able to do business during the festival season. The authorities should pay heed to the problem, but they are bothered about other issues,” said Amrik Singh, a furniture shop owner in the area.
Despite repeated attempts, comments of MC commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal could not be elicited. However, one of the MC officials in the operations and maintenance cell said that apart from the repair works, they were also installing a new sewer line in the area to avoid any cave-in incident in the future.
“The labour is working continuously at the site and the process might take around two weeks,” he added.
