Road laid couple of months ago now dug up

Nagpur: Lack of coordination between Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) and the NMC’s public works department has surfaced once again. Internal roads in Mohan Nagar which were laid barely a couple of months ago at a cost of Rs20 lakh are now being dug up by a private company to lay electric cables.
TOI visited the locality and found that the private firm has damaged almost one-kilometer-long stretch of the internal lanes while carrying out the cable-laying work.
Residents of the locality said they were happy that the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) had recarpeted the internal lanes after almost a decade. However, their joy was short-lived after nearly 40% of the road width was dug up to lay cables.
Not only portion of the newly carpeted road was damaged, but even drinking pipeline was also broken, said Dinesh Naidu, a resident. Now, it’s almost 15 days the residents are waiting for the restoration of the dug up roads. This has also led the residents to park their vehicles on already narrow road causing traffic jam. Naidu has also filed an online complaint, but in vain.
All this has taken place despite a standing instruction by NMC chief engineer Ulhas Debadwar to ensure that no permission for road digging will be allowed if it was newly laid. Only in case of emergency works, such plea will be entertained, the order read. As per his notification, a proper coordination was a must with various departments so as to avoid damage to roads.
The digging of roads, however, exposes lack of coordination between various government agencies and the NMC. Residents said this was an unpardonable waste of public money and wanted the concerned officials of the both the MSEDCL and NMC to pay up for the squander.
According to sources, as the company officials overseeing the work enjoy patronage of some senior politicians, they are being allowed to get away with the violations and the damage caused to the newly-laid road.
NMC officials from hotmix department feigned ignorance about the matter and denied giving any permission for road cutting in Mohan Nagar.
Corporator Sanjay Burrewar confirmed this and claimed the cable laying work was also important. He said he had been following the contractor engaged in the work and will ensure that the road is restored like earlier. Burrewar, however, said underground cabling of electric cables was also need of the hour as high tension lines are situated close to buildings.
Despite repeated attempts, Mangalwari zone’s assistant municipal commissioner Harish Raut was not available for comment.