Jaipur: Repair in limbo, respite from bad roads not likely this festive season | Jaipur News
Since April, Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) has dug up the roads in Tilak Nagar to change the small size of water pipelines as per the current population requirement. Similarly, under Jal Jeevan Mission, many areas of Walled City were dug up for getting tap connections to all the households. This work has impacted the daily lives of people who are not able to commute properly.
A road dug up from the middle at Chandpol Market
In Bapu Market, Johri market and Sanjay Circle areas, roads are completely broken due the ongoing work of Jal Jeevan Mission. Traders and residents of the area are facing problems, for which they have even met the authorities.
Ram Chandra Mangani, a shopkeeper at Bapu market said, “We have complained to the corporation and our traders’ association. During festive season, when the public comes to the market for shopping, the pathetic roads make it difficult to park. Already the market is down due to the pandemic.”
The roads in several parts of the area were dug up six months ago to lay water pipelines and since the conditions of the roads have only deteriorated further. While everybody is talking about it, no serious attempt has been made to repair the roads. The Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) in August had claimed that work of repairing and recarpeting will begin on September 15 but later postponed it due to an extended monsoon. One month later and right during the festive season, JMC is caught napping as it has not even managed to find a contractor to do the work. Though no party showed an interest the first time the corporation had invited tenders, officials are making no attempts to invite tenders again and hasten the work ahead of Diwali. Officials must wake up from their slumber and act fast to ensure that the roads are repaired immediately.
Additional chief engineer at JMC-Heritage SK Verma said, “We will soon be inviting tenders for the construction of the pipeline. The file is under process and the moment contract is given, road repairing work will begin.”
In Tilak Nagar, PHED has laid down pipelines in the middle of the road as on roads’ sides, electricity and other utility lines were already functioning. This has now made it difficult to drive on roads with the middle portion dug up. Although money for road repair has been already deposited in the municipal corporation.
The heritage city is yet to float tenders but JMC-Greater has already given the contract and claims that the work will begin from Saturday onwards or next week as per the officials. The entire project is of around Rs 30 lakh. Shankar Kumar, an auto driver at Tilak Nagar said, “The roads are pathetic. In monsoon season, there was waterlogging everywhere, making it accident-prone. It has become a headache to drive on these roads.” Roads are also dug up in Shyam Nagar, Sodala and Khatipura area, where the rising population demands the change of pipelines as per modern requirement. These areas come under the JDA, where PHED has deposited the money but the pipeline work is incomplete, so the people will have to put up with the uneven roads till after Diwali.
It remains to be seen if the roads can be repaired before Diwali or the people of the city have to travel on uneven roads for the entire festive season.
