Rs 55 crore on 9 roads yields potholes after 4 months

The municipal corporation’s (MC) competence in ensuring quality carpeting of roads is again under question, as potholes have appeared on the Gill Road — re-laid just four months ago.

Residents claim that substandard material was used in the construction. They alleged that this is a routine occurrence in the city with Ishmeet Singh Road also in a shambles, just months after it was carpeted and a sample of Pakhowal Road failing the quality test.

With the potholes getting wider as huge volume of traffic continues to pound the road, an RTI activist Kuldeep Singh Khaira has demanded an inquiry into the issue. “There are several engineering faults in the road and water stagnates due to improper design,” he claimed.

A regular commuter Satwinder Singh said, “It is inexplicable and inexcusable that newly-built roads become unusable in less than six months. This is what makes the residents believe that corruption is everywhere and the local authorities are corrupt.”

Some large potholes have indeed surfaced on the road near the Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College. There have also been some reports that substandard interlocking tiles were installed on the footpaths on both sides of road. This is even as Gill Road was re-laid under a special project that earmarked Rs 55 crore for nine major roads in the city.

MC additional commissioner, Ghanshyam Thori said, “I will look into the matter and take required steps. The nine major roads under the project have a minimum of three-year maintenance with one-year defect liability, and the contractor will carry out free repairs. As the monsoon is over, the required steps will be taken.” He added that bitumen work had been resumed on roads with pending work.