Navratra festival: Mansa Devi road gets pothole makeover ahead of VIPs visit

Workers carry on patchwork on Mansa Devi road in Panchkula on Monday. (Express photo by Jaipal Singh)

The potholed road from Mansa Devi Singh Dwar in the Mansa Devi Complex has been given a quick makeover ahead of the visit of VIPs for the Navratra festival. The nine-day festival is scheduled to begin from September 21. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki and various other ministers would be travelling through the road to visit the Mansa Devi temple to pay obeisance.

Even as residents of Panchkula have been crying over the potholed roads asking the authorities to pay heed to their requests for repair, the officials have carried out patchwork only on Mansa Devi road. In its week-long campaign, a group – Youth4swaraj — loosely affiliated to leader Yogendra Yadav’s Swaraj India on Monday encircled the potholes in Sector 20 with lime powder and showered flowers to declare the roads dead. Other residents also joined the group and even posted pictures on their WhatsApp number.

“The authorities are highly insensitive. Roads in other sectors are in a bad shape, but they immediately did patchwork on the VIPs route,” said Harshit, one of the organisers of the campaign. On Sunday, the group carried out campaign in sectors 2,6 and 5. Slogans like Janta gaddhe mein… My pothole my pride were also written along some big potholes. Panchkula Mayor Upinder Ahluwalia said though her employees had been telling her that they would be purchasing material for the patchwork, she questioned the municipal engineer today as to how come the material was available for this particular road.

“I asked the municipal engineer as to how come material was available for this road where dignitaries have to come for the Navratra fest,” she told Chandigarh Newsline. Ahluwalia further said the officials had not been cooperating on the directions of local MLA Gian Chand Gupta. Gupta is said to be out of the town and did not respond to the calls.