MC wasting public money by replacing good-condition tiles, say Ludhiana residents

The residents of Singh Pura area near Jagraon bridge have accused the municipal corporation (MC) of wasting public money by unnecessarily replacing old interlocking tiles on the roadsides, which they claim were in good condition.

They rued that civic officials prepared hefty work estimates sitting inside their offices without even inspecting the actual condition of the tiles at the site.

One of the residents, Gurcharan Singh, said, “The old tiles were in good shape and I had even asked the contract workers why the same were being replaced.”

The MC should conduct inspections before approving projects, or the effort and money would be wasted, he held. “If only a few tiles were damaged at a certain spot, what was the need to reinstall new ones on the entire stretch,” asked Gurcharan.

An MC official requesting anonymity said all development works are approved on the demand of the area councillors. “Similar complaints from residents were received in the past, but the officials work under political pressure. No field inspection is done before preparing the work estimates. Even the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) does not get the site checked before approving a project,” the official revealed.

When asked, area councillor Poonam Malhotra said, “The interlocking tiles which are being replaced were in bad shape and I had received complaints regarding this from residents. It is only after this that I got the project approved from the MC and the work was started.”

MC commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal said, “I have not received any official complaint in this regard so far. I will look into the matter and seek report from the officials concerned.”