Where roads have craters as big as the Moon

Harish Lubana, a resident of the area, said the school bus of his children who studied at St John’s and Bhavan Vidyalaya would never enter Kishangarh because there were no roads. Instead, the bus would drop them far from their house, after which they had to walk. “Kishangarh is said to be in Chandigarh. It, however, offers facilities that are worse than any rural belt of the state. No official has ever visited this area to check on the condition of roads here because they know they will not have a smooth ride here. There is no public transport that is ready to even enter our area,” he said.

The potholes take a toll on the vehicles as well. Lubana says they have to get their wheel alignment done almost every month. “The elderly in our area who have back or spinal problems also never venture out in vehicles. The roads haven’t been recarpeted for about ten or twelve years. Only patchwork is done, which stays on for a few days and then comes off,” Lubana said.

Pregnant women move out 2 months before delivery
Rinku, a resident, said pregnant women move out of the area a few months before the delivery as they can’t risk the craters here and the possible mishaps. “A lady in my neighbourhood recently went to her mother’s house before her delivery date as she had to go for regular checkups,” Rinku said.

Kishangarh was taken over by the MC from the UT Administration last year. However, the change of guards has done nothing for this hamlet. Ward 4 ‘s Councillor, Suman Devi, from the AAP, a greenhorn, admitted that the roads in Kishangarh are in a very bad shape. “Infact, most of the time, the authorities are laying sewer lines with water pipelines, they take the opportunity to dig up whatever non-broken stretches that we have. I am soon going to take up the issue with the authorities because all bad roads need to be repaired,” Suman Devi said.

The road in front of the cremation ground in Sector 25 saw patchwork just a few days before the polls in December. In a few days, all the repair work had been washed off after one spell of rain. Such is the condition of the road here that even cyclists have to carefully pedal. Residents of the area state that the situation is risky at night as there is no proper light and two wheeler drivers tend to skid on the stretches. Sector 25 falls in Ward 16 and the area has seen bad roads for over six years now. Area Councillor, Poonam, who was elected for the first time on AAP ticket in December, said she has already taken up the issue with the MC officials. “Even the internal lanes are full of potholes,” Poonam said, adding that she met the officials of the engineering wing on Monday.

What do the mayor and chief engineer have to say?
Mayor Sarabjit Kaur, said the estimates have been prepared and the road repair work will start. “Due to winters and rain, road re-carpeting work could not be taken up. We will get all the stretches recarpeted. I have also asked all the councillors to send us their demand for roads that need to be recarpeted on a priority basis,” Mayor Sarabjit stated. She added, “You have seen the ruckus is created in the House meetings. Councillors should understand that if I fail to deliver on the promises, then they have the right to create ruckus. But I need some time at least.”

Chief Engineer NP Sharma, while responding to a query sent by The Indian Express, said, “Carpeting of roads is due. Owing to cold weather, work was temporarily stopped.”