Bumpy rides for Chandigarh as lockdown delays road repairs

Potholed and damaged city roads are once again drawing attention after Chandigarh administration allowed movement of vehicles in the third phase of the lockdown. Around 60% of recarpeting projects from 2019 are still pending, said officials and the exodus of migrant labour has cast a long shadow on forthcoming recarpeting projects for this year.

Speaking about the quality of roads, Kuljinder Singh Sra, general secretary of Sector 33-B resident welfare association (RWA), said the potholes were detrimental to vehicles. Dr Jagpal Singh, president of Sector 35 RWA said that potholes were placing two-wheelers riders at risk, as they are wearing masks which reduce visibility and can lead to accidents.

General secretary of Sector 40-C RWA, SK Khosla stressed that recarpeting must be done before monsoon begins in a month, or the work will be delayed till October.

Discussing the status of recarpeting, the civic body’s chief engineer Shailender Singh said, “Currently, around 60% of last year’s recarpeting work is still pending which will cost nearly ₹30 crores. It was delayed in winters and then due to the Covid epidemic. First, the pending work must be completed before this year’s recarpeting work is scheduled.”

Singh said repairs will likely be affected by mass movement of migrant labourer, many of whom are employed by the building and roads wing of MC’s engineering department. “We have to first check how much manpower we have, since several workers may have left for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar via Shramik trains.” He said the department was awaiting clarity about carrying on road maintenance work in lockdown phase four.

Earlier many employees of the engineering department had been deputed with Sector Response Teams (SRT) that checked the functioning of shops and supply of fruits and veggies. However, these SRTs were dissolved by MC commissioner KK Yadav on May 15 and officials are back on regular maintenance duty.