A video of an Uttar Pradesh MLA, reprimanding a road contractor over the poor quality of a freshly paved road, has gone viral. Bedi Ram, a Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party lawmaker, was seen scraping the road with his shoes as the tar peeled off.
The peeling off surface layer triggered Ram, who was heard saying, “Is this road? Can a car run on this road? Is it some kind of joke?" The video is reportedly of Jakhanian area’s Yusufpur Sampark Marg on the 4.5-kilometre stretch connecting Jangipur-Bahariyabad-Yusufpur in Ghazipur district.
@ACOUPPolice Corruption in road construction Jakhiniya Ghazipur UP pic.twitter.com/d9bT5rP4BX— Sanjay Singh (@SANJAYK98610543) March 30, 2023
The MLA further said, “There was no official of PWD (Public Works Department) there. I raised the issue with the contractor about this and talked to the higher officials of PWD. The road was not being built according to the standard and the construction was being done in such a way that it would not last even for a year or even six months."
According to local reports, the road was constructed by the PWD five days ago, and the villagers had complained about the shoddy construction to Bedi Ram. Acting on their complaint, the MLA reached the spot.
The MLA said that the shoddy construction of roads tarnishes his image as a legislator as well as the image of UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath. “Such a bad road will not be able to withstand even the rain," he added.
This comes just week after a viral video from Pilibhit showed people of a village peeling off the surface layer of a recently laid road with their bare hands. Reports quoted locals as saying the road tender was approved by the Public Works Department’s construction division a month ago in favour of a contractor, Surya Pratap Singh.
पीलीभीत में नई बनी सड़क हाथ से ही उखड़ गई. pic.twitter.com/eCrhbyrfML— Milind Khandekar (@milindkhandekar) November 12, 2022
A report in Times of India quoted officials as saying that the road project, costing Rs 69 lakh, was initiated on February 20 and about 1.4km stretch of it is complete.
“Our technical team inspects the quality of the road construction from time to time. The work is being done as per the prescribed standards," said Gagan Singh, executive engineer, PWD construction division.
Residents alleged that the poor condition of the roads was also witnessed in other districts as well. Last November, another 7.3 km-long road in Puranpur tehsil had similar issues.
Man in Lucknow rips up poor-quality road, built for Rs 40 crore, with bare hands to expose corruption.BKT MLA Yogesh Shukla, in a letter, shot a complaint to the minister about the poor quality of construction of the road widening project. pic.twitter.com/KU2CtqGMwo
— Ahmed Khabeer احمد خبیر (@AhmedKhabeer_) March 17, 2023
The TOI report stated that the tarring work was of sub-standard quality, as a result of which the surface started to peel off. The road’s construction cost was assessed at Rs 4.27 crore. In this case, a contractor was booked by the police following a complaint, and two junior engineers were suspended.
Read all the Latest India News here