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Journalism of Courage
In the last few months, large stretches of Chandigarh’s roads have developed potholes, leaving residents and commuters fuming. The stretch next to the busy Sector 26 market, leading towards schools, is one such spot where vehicles bump along broken patches. The road dividing the Sector 19 rehri market and Sector 27 is in a similar state, as are many others across the city.
Despite repeated complaints, the response from civic officials has been limited to one line: “Tender lag rahe hain (tenders are being floated).” Months have passed with little visible progress on the ground.
The Chandigarh civic body handles the majority of road network of 2,000 kilometres throughout the city that also includes those in parking lots, rehabilitation colonies and villages. They maintain V4, V5 and V6, though V3 was recently given to the administration. The responsibility lies in the hands of building and roads department of the engineering wing of the corporation.
Other roads are managed by the engineering wing of the UT Administration.
The Indian Express spoke to the officers responsible for giving the taxpayers good roads. Here’s who they are and what they have to say:
Ajay Garg, Executive Engineer, Municipal Corporation
He is responsible for the condition of roads in Road Division 2. The roads of sectors 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, and Manimajra primarily lie in his jurisdiction.
When told the roads are in a bad condition, he replied, “Bilkul hai (Yes, they are).”
Asked when he last visited and inspected a bad road, he said, “Regularly karte hi hain (I regularly do it).”
Asked why the condition of the roads is so bad, he replied, “Tender lag rahe hain bass (Tenders have been floated).”
He added, “This time, it has rained a lot, so the roads gave up. As of now, we are doing patchwork. It has already begun in the FR Road area.”
Anurag Bishnoi, Executive Engineer, MC
He handles the roads of mostly the northern part of the city. Sectors 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, and 18 fall within his jurisdiction.
Asked when he last inspected a bad road in his area, he replied, “Continuous dekhte hain… karte rehte hain (We keep doing it continuously).”
Asked when the condition of roads will improve, he said, “Tenders have been floated. Patchwork has already begun.”
Ankur Bansal, Executive Engineer, MC
He manages roads from sectors 34 to 56. Talking about the poor condition of the roads, he said, “There was no money for the last one or two years. That’s why work couldn’t be done.”
Bansal added, “Now tenders will be floated.” He also noted that patchwork has begun to fill up the potholes.
Asked if patchwork will make roads bumpier, he replied, “No, patchwork on a new road makes it bumpy. But if we only fill in the potholes, it is fine.”
However, for years the civic body seems to have been doing patchwork, making the roads all the more bumpy.
Who heads the team of executive engineers
All three report to Sanjay Arora, Chief Engineer. Arora didn’t respond to calls and messages.
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