E-Paper
Ludhiana: Road caves in for the 2nd time in 9 days; MC left red faced
In a major embarrassment for the municipal corporation (MC), a portion of the road caved in at the same spot for the second time in nine days near Shastri Nagar railway crossing after the city witnessed 7
In a major embarrassment for the municipal corporation (MC), a portion of the road caved in at the same spot for the second time in nine days near Shastri Nagar railway crossing after the city witnessed 7.8 mm rainfall on Wednesday.
The civic body had earlier claimed that the spot had been repaired after the first incident was reported on September 12 and blamed a nearby eatery for the cave-in, stating that it had improperly attached its sewer connection to MC line, which led to leakage.
This time, MC officials have blamed leakage in the over four decade old brick sewer lines for the incident. They said that flow of water increased due to rainfall on Wednesday and the lines overflowed.
A 15 feet wide and 10 feet deep pit has been created at the spot, which also affected movement of traffic on the busy road. Though no untoward accident was reported, residents slammed the civic body for adopting a lackadaisical approach towards repair work and putting lives in danger.
RTI activist and shopkeeper from Model Town Extension, Arvind Sharma, said a small portion of the road had also caved in six months ago, but the authorities had ignored his complaint. “It is shocking how the civic body is putting lives of residents in danger. The roads in the city are not safe. The same portion caved in on September 12 and if the authorities had repaired the sewer line properly, it would not have happend again. Responsibility must be fixed and action should also be taken against the officials concerned,” said Sharma.
MC executive engineer Pardeep Saluja stated that the line was repaired properly by MC last time too. “But, the brick sewer line is decades old and there might have been some damage, which led to leakage. The spot has been barricaded and MC teams have started repair work. It might take around 5-6 days and attempts will be made to not block movement of traffic.”
The finance and contracts committee (F&CC) of MC has already approved a proposal to strengthen the decade old sewer lines in different parts of the city, including this one, at a cost of ₹ 82.22 crore, said Saluja.
Major road cave-in incidents have been reported from various parts of the city in the past, including Model Town Extension, Kaka Marriage Palace Road and Dugri, due to leakage in brick sewer lines.
Meanwhile, the showers came as a relief from scorching heat in the city, but waterlogging was witnessed in areas like BRS Nagar, Model Town Extension and Pakhowal Road.
