Potholed roads to stay as MCD runs out of money

If the road outside your house has not been repaired, the footpath has been left half-done and the drains are choking, it is because the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has not paid its contractors. Neelam Pandey reports.

If the road outside your house has not been repaired, the footpath has been left half-done and the drains are choking, it is because the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has not paid its contractors.

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The MCD is facing a major financial crunch after having spent on Commonwealth Games-related projects. It owes contractors over Rs 700 crore.

The contractors, who were paying out of their own pockets to carry on civic works have stopped doing so till they get pending payments.

There are many projects - such as dense carpeting of roads in South Extension, Defence Colony, Greater Kailash-1 - which have not begun even after tenders were called in.

There are 15-odd contractors in Karol Bagh and Sadar Paharganj zones who were working on major road projects but have now abandoned them mid way. Many roads like Arya Samaj Road, Deshbandu Gupta Road, Daryanganj and Saraswati Marg, are lying half dug up.

"A number of the contractors who had started work before the Games have abandoned it. We can only pay them after we get the funds from the Delhi government," said Yogender Chandolia, chairman of the MCD standing committee.

The MCD was hoping to recover part of the cost of the Games' projects by better revenue generation, which didn't happen.

"Extra funds we were hoping to get from the government too didn't come," he said.

"Contractors haven't been paid for over a year. At least they should start paying in installments," said Sunil Vohra, president of Delhi Municipal Contractors Association.