Mauli Jagran: MC officials for paver blocks,councillors favour carpeting

The officials claim that since the width of the roads in the area is 10 feet against the other roads which are 12 feet and more,no contractor is willing to take up carpeting in the area. The problem,in fact,is present in several colonies and villages. Tenders for laying of roads in the area were issued,but no response was received.

Meanwhile,area councillor of the ward Rajinder Kaur,who is from the BJP,is not in favour of laying paver blocks and demands that carpeting of the roads should be done as was being done earlier. She says that paver blocks would not last long and would not prove to be a success in colonies.

BJP councillor Arun Sood,in whose ward paver blocks were laid in a colony in Sector 38,says,“In less than a year after paver blocks were laid,these are in a bad shape,and the residents are facing problems. Paver blocks are laid on sand. With water pipelines flowing under these at some places,the sand becomes loose and cannot hold the paver blocks in place. Since the paver blocks are interlocking,even when one paver block is out of place,it creates a problem. Residents get injured as these become loose.”

Another problem being encountered with laying paver blocks on roads is that the height of the road increases. These also are not given a slope as is the case with roads. Sood says he has mooted a suggestion that the MC should undertake the work of carpeting in such areas on its own. Small road rollers can be hired for the purpose.

MC Chief Engineer S S Bida says,“Road carpeting in the internal roads of the colony would be difficult as the lanes are narrow. The quality of work would suffer. Our proposal is to lay paver blocks of 80 mm thickness on which vehicles can also ply. This has been done in other villages and colonies as well.”

Architect Surinder Bahga agrees that there is a problem when it comes to the internal roads in colonies with the contractors not willing to take up carpeting here. He adds that in some areas the better option is to lay paver blocks.