Agency that digs will have to restore roads, says government

In a bid to expedite the repairing of roads that are dug up for various projects, the Delhi government has rolled out a new policy that makes the agency carrying out the digging responsible for relaying the road.

L-G nod

Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday said that the PWD had on April 19 issued a circular changing the standard operating procedure for road restoration after approval from Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal.

Earlier, the agency that wanted to dig any road for either laying utilities or carrying out other infrastructure projects would have to pay the road-owning agency a deposit to be used for the relaying the road after the completion of the work.

Now, Mr. Jain said the agency implementing the project would be responsible for restoring the road, reducing the time and money needed.

‘Within timeframe’

He added that if the restoration was not completed in a stipulated timeframe, a penalty would be levied on the implementing agency.

The PWD circular said the restoration work should be carried out within 48 hours after the digging is completed.

In case there is a dispute between the implementing agency and the road-owning agency, a committee chaired by the PWD engineer-in-chief would resolve the issue, the circular said.

The engineers-in-chief of the municipal corporations and a member of the Delhi Jal Board would also be members of the committee.