Dug up for sewerage work, road stretch awaits repair for 7 months

Ludhiana: Commuting from Gurdwara Bhuri Wala up to a fuel station on Haibowal Road has become a nightmare for residents for the past seven months as the Ludhiana municipal corporation has failed to re-carpet the stretch ever since sewerage pipes had been laid underneath.
The shopkeepers in the area claimed they had raised the issue several times with officials and elected representatives, but nothing has changed.
However, officials claimed estimates for the road work are being revised as this work was not included in previous road work that was carried out a few days back. They will construct the road shortly, the officials said. The commuters as well as shopkeepers claimed that elected representatives and officials had made several claims earlier too, but nothing has been done so far.
Shopkeeper Rajeev Gupta said, “This road was dug up to lay new sewerage lines long back. We were assured that the road will be reconstructed as soon as the sewerage work is completed. But the situation is such that when vehicles pass through the stretch, stone chips come flying into the shops.” He said there is loss in business too, as people avoid passing using this 600-700 metre stretch.
Another shopkeeper Pankaj Garg complained that when the authorities could not reconstruct the road in six to seven months, then “what do we expect from them”. He said, “People meet with accidents daily, but nobody is bothered about their safety and it is unimaginable the kind of dust that enters our shops. We are risking our lives while working in such environment.”
The SDO of operation and maintenance cell, MC, Anshu Garcha said, “Sewerage laying work was completed a couple of months back. Now even road gulleys have been laid. Reconstruction of road is pending.”
Sanjeev Sharma, executive engineer of bridge and road department, MC, said, “In the original estimates, there was no mention of this stretch as we were supposed to construct road from Bhuri Wala gurdwara towards Chander Nagar, but then this stretch was added in the list. So, now we are revising the estimate, and the road would be reconstructed soon.”