Ludhiana: Shortage of raw material halts Gill Road construction work

LUDHIANA: While the commuters are troubled with dust and potholes on city’s busiest Gill Road, the civic officials are helpless as the construction of the road has come to a halt. The contractor, who was supposed to construct the bitumen road work, has blamed shortage of construction material due to which he is unable to carry out the said work. The residents feared if work is not executed in next few days, then they will have to wait till April because in winters work will not take place.
A commuter, Harish Verma, said, “There is so much dust at this road that sometimes it becomes a difficult task to pass through this stretch. The authorities are unable to complete the work and for the commuters this road tests the patience daily.” He said two wheeler riders were at the worst sufferers because they had to pass through dust and potholes.
Meanwhile, activist Kuldeep Khaira said, “I had highlighted the poor quality work at Gill Road and officials got the samples from road filled, but they are not bringing this report on public platform.” He added that they would again approach the authorities about the issue as the chowks which are made concrete are also not up to the mark.
The executive engineer of MC, Rakesh Singla said, “The contractor has given in writing that there is a cute shortage of construction material so he is unable to work. Even we are worried how work will be completed.” He said they would talk to senior officials about this project.
This road is among one of the most important stretches of the city as many commuters use it every day. It is after 2014 the road is being constructed. The road work was divided into two parts as one part is to construct the entire road with bitumen while in other portion the main chowks falling on this road are made of reinforced cement concrete (RCC) material. Earlier when work for chowks had started, a hue and cry was raised because it led to traffic snarls. However even now the chowks are incomplete and bitumen work is yet to take off.