Chandigarh roads crumbling, re-carpeting not done for years
Residents and councillors have voiced concern over the impact of these poor road conditions on public convenience.
4 min read
Damaged roads near roundabout between Sector 27-3C and 28-29, and (above) near Industrial area light point in Chandigarh. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)Roads dividing sectors, circulation roads and access roads to houses in Chandigarh have been deteriorating due to a lack of maintenance, as the Municipal Corporation (MC) has failed to recarpet most of them for the past two years.
Many roads, mostly V3, V4 and V5, in Chandigarh are experiencing a significant decline in their condition, with potholes and damaged surfaces becoming prevalent in various sectors. Residents and councillors have voiced concern over the impact of these poor road conditions on public convenience. Roads in Sectors 36, 42, 53, 54, 27 and 30, Industrial Area, and in several villages need recarpeting and repair work, they said.
The V1 roads in Chandigarh are the fast vehicular sector-dividing ones that connect to other towns; V2 are arterial roads including important avenues such as Madhya Marg, Dakshin Marg, Jan Marg, Himalaya Marg, Uttar Marg, and Purv Marg — currently maintained by the UT administration; V3 are fast vehicular sector-dividing roads too; V4 are meandering shopping roads, V5 are sector-circulation roads, V6 are access roads to houses, and V7 are footpaths and cycle tracks. The buses play only on V1, V2, V3, and V4 roads across the UT.
Chandigarh Mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla said, “There are no funds, but we will start working on a few roads which need immediate attention.”
Due to a shortage of funds, an agenda was presented to the General House during a meeting on March 25 to hand over the V3 roads to the UT Administration. However, the councillors across party lines voted against the proposal. When the agenda was discussed in the General House, MC Commissioner Amit Kumar apprised the members that V-3 roads had not been recarpeted for the past three years, and earlier too, the maintenance of V-3 roads was transferred to the Administration and later given back to the MC. Most councillors felt that the MC should not transfer its rights to the UT.
Councillor Gurpreet Singh Gabi said, “Why does the MC plan to transfer V3 roads to the Administration. What does the Administration do for the city? All the facilities from water to roads are the duties of MC, and if the V3 roads are transferred to Administration, the staff of MC would also be laid off, which we will not allow to happen.”
Meanwhile, the MC, which maintains a significant portion of the city’s road network, includes roads in 22 villages under its jurisdiction. However, the MC’s ability to address the issue is hindered by budgetary limitations, with insufficient funds for comprehensive road repairs and recarpeting.
Former Senior Deputy Mayor and present councillor of Dhanas, Kuljeet Sandhu, however, said, “In nearly 13 villages, the work of re-carpeting is completed, but in some village areas of Chandigarh, which are under wards, the recarpeting is scheduled. For road repair works, the tender has been floated, and soon the re-carpeting work shall begin.”
Chandigarh Resident Associations Welfare Federation (CRAWFED) chairman Hitesh Puri said, “In Sector 43, re-carpeting of V5 and V6 has been pending for the past five years.” However, the MC said they did not have funds, so the roads remain in bad shape.
“In Chandigarh, most people are law-abiding and pay their taxes, while the percentage of individual defaulters is too little, but people are not getting facilities, and roads remain in bad shape for years, inviting accidents,” Puri said.
Federation of Sector Welfare Association of Chandigarh (FOSWAC) president Baljinder Singh Bittu said, “The road repair work shall be completed. Panchkula and Mohali are doing better than Chandigarh. Sector 35 internal roads and Sector 34 roads — all are in bad shape. MC should immediately work on it.”
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