As the commuters continue to struggle with craters and a bone rattling experience while driving on city roads, there is an area which is seeing overnight recarpeting of roads—interestingly ones that do not require any recarpeting at all. The reason for this quick action by the Chandigarh authorities is the visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. As Shah is due to visit Sector 17 to inaugurate several projects, the route he is supposed to take has been recarpeted not once but twice. The area is being given a quick facelift for his smooth ride. This apart, new pavers on the road sides were also being fixed on Tuesday. The Indian Express found that the roads around the Sector 17 police station, in front of the ISBT, the stretch near the fuel pump in front of the MC building, all stretches leading to the football stadium have been recarpeted, even as the routes were without potholes. As several roads continue to cry for attention, giving commuters a tough time, residents said that the approach of the authorities is self-speaking. The Chandigarh Municipal Commissioner Anindita Mitra however stated that the recarpeting was being done for roads that are under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation. Development and maintenance of roads in Chandigarh is bifurcated among Municipal Corporation and Chandigarh administration. The roads designated as V4, V5, V6 are under Municipal Corporation. The total length of roads under the Municipal Corporation is about 1,800 kilometers. As per the existing policy guidelines, a road is considered due for maintenance if a period of five years has elapsed since placing the last overlay (additional layer of bitumen), which has been found not to be the case with the present roads. NITTTR had in its study observed that irrespective of the good surface, overlays (additional layers of bitumen) are placed. This means that irrespective of the good condition of the road, an additional layer of bitumen is added which makes the surface more uneven. The Chandigarh Congress party also issued a statement in this regard. “The condition of the city roads is deplorable and no programme has been charted out to recarpet the roads so far. While most of the city roads are full of potholes, the route where Home Minister Amit Shah shall pass through during his visit is being re-carpeted not once but twice over,” the statement said. It was also added that, “The road in front of Sector 17 police station was already in a good condition but is being recarpeted a second time. Football stadium in Sector 17 is also being given a makeover. Many contractors are working there on war footing.” Amit Shah will be inaugurating the Integrated Command Control Centre in Sector 17 along with several other projects of the city. A senior official of the civic body said, “The plan to recarpet roads in the entire Chandigarh that falls under MC's purview has been chalked out. Plan for road recarpeting worth Rs 65 crore has been worked out.”
