Sector 15 roads dug six months ago, area residents peeved

Dug up roads in sector 15 pose danger to area residents
Irate sector 15 residents demand immediate carpeting of drug up roads

Chandigarh, April 13,2010
The V-roads of sector 15, dug up six months ago, have drawn ire from the area residents. Peeved at the callous attitude of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation authorities, the area residents even allege that the MC had dug up roads but is yet to float tenders for its carpeting.
Area resident Asim Jain, a chartered accountant, rued that the V roads of the sector were dug up in October 2009 with a view to widen them and now the MC has dug up even inner roads of the sector.
Imagine if this is the condition of Mayor Anu Chatarath’s own ward, what to talk about the other areas, in fact the Mayor even resides in this sector, so the wrong things are happening right under her nose
Jain revealed that while V-roads have been dug, stones laid and filled with mud, the MC is yet to float tenders for its carpeting. He added that ideally a road is immediately carpeted with coal-tar and bitumen after being laid with mud. However, at sector 15 it has been over six months and relief does not seem to be round the corner in near future.
Talking about the work initiated on inner roads he said that already the existing roads are 22 feet wide with four feet space left on either sides. “Widening it would only lead to increase in speed of vehicles plying on it and children playing on roads would be at risked,” he said.
He added that the work on inner roads was initiated without informing area residents. JCB machine dug up the roads without informing people whose cars got stuck up. Those cars that were parked on the ramps of houses could not be moved and those standing outside could not be parked inside the houses.
Added to this the dug up roads have posed danger for area residents. Children have to be picked up to get to their homes. The pits dug are as deep as around 1.5 feet. The department is shifting storm water pipes and the holes dug up for it have not been covered that can cause mishap any time. People are unable to park their cars inside their houses and end up crowding the roads.
“The nightmare got even worst when the JCB machine working here pulled out underground power cables leading to power failure in many parts of the sector. When we lodged complaint with the electricity department authorities, they said that the MC officials had not informed them about digging work before hand,” said advocate Vishal Gupta. He added that instead of mending these snapped power cables permanently, the electricity department officials twisted the wires to repair and then left the circuit exposed.
Interestingly, some area residents even pointed out that area in front of houses of some Congress workers has been left untouched. The MC has adopted pick and choose policy even in such a mundane work like road widening, alleged area residents. They have sought immediate redressal of the problem.