(Photo by Sanjib Bhattacharjee)
Potholes and bumpy rides are synonymous to the wonderful stretches of roads that have been constructed by the ‘no-way-out’ Public Works Department (PWD) in the State and this has only managed to tarnish its image and services have progressed from bad to worse.
The quality of road construction cannot be debated over as it is undeniably bad and questionable proficiency of the department is highlighted in its filling up of potholes which remain and feel the same even after the completion of repair works.
During the earlier years, the PWD was doing a much better work since the department never ventured into the forbidden area of compromising in quality at any given point of time.
But sadly, in the past ten years, the work being done by the department is has given commuters enough discomfort to last a lifetime. Leave aside the raging hatred among the public towards the functioning of this department.
Many would recall that earlier, while repairing the road, the department would ensure that all possible measures are undertaken to see that the roads constructed, last for a longer period.
But presently the department is doing a slip shot work.
The laxity in its functioning is just so open and many would have seen that the contractors would just fill the pot holes with small amounts of bitumen, after which, another team would come in a Jeep and just black topped the road.
The catch here is that there are no road rollers and no proper finishing. So where does the question of having durable and long lasting roads arise?
With its current progress, roads might soon become inexistent and we might just see tracks or maybe even trails of tracks remaining.
(Photo by Lamphrang Nongspung )
Sadly, to the government’s eye, there is a lot of work in progress, considering the amount of materials being brought into a repair site but in reality, this kind of ‘patch work’ lasts for only for few days. The gently covered pot holes would again re-emerge.
This clearly shows that the department is not concerned about providing quality road to the citizens.
In a broader perspective, it is a plain waste of public money.
What is surprising is that senior officials of the PWD put forward the reason that owing to funds constraint, the department is prompted to carry out such unprofessional work.
“We do not have the requisite funds at our disposal to give the best quality work. “
“We have to ask the contractors to fill up the pot holes in whatever way they can,” a senior PWD official said.
During the recent Autumn Assembly Session, PWD Minister HDR Lyngdoh claimed that the department constructs durable and all weather roads, much to the disbelief of the members.
Shocked by this reply, UDP legislator Paul Lyngdoh said that this reply of the PWD Minster is nothing short of a ‘bed time story’.
“This tall claim of the PWD Minister in the floor of the House is only a fiction since it just cannot be real looking at the present condition of the road in the city,” Lyngdoh said during the recently concluded Assembly session.
The PWD Minister had a different take in the matter and further discussions were put on hold with him stating, “The main reason for this present road condition is because of the stress due to heavy vehicular traffic which we are experiencing.”
This surely is an explanation that won’t go down well with anybody.
(By Lamphrang
Nongspung)