Rajasthan
Gehlot waxed eloquent, but roads in his hometown refused to be smooth | Jaipur News
Aap maangte maangte thak jaoge, lekin main dete dete nahi thakunga (I shall not tire giving even though you will get tired asking). This statement forms an essential part of almost every public address of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot during the second half of his current tenure. Given how he pumped in funds of several crores of rupees for numerous projects in his hometown of Jodhpur, one can say he meant what he said.Some of those projects are commissioned while others are in the process.
But not the roads in Jodhpur. Gehlot failed to rid his home city of poor roads despite his open warning to civic officials that they must improve the roads if they want to remain posted in Jodhpur. He also told the officials that they should work with enthusiasm as they are posted in a chief minister’s city. But to no avail. Even a budgetary allocation of Rs 361.76 crore and repeated raps from the court failed to make the city administration improve the roads.
Several roads, once dug up for sewerage or gas pipeline work, remained unrepaired for months, sometimes for over a year. Roads in the walled city area are burning examples of this administrative apathy. Residents have been suffering all this while. Jaloriyon ka Bas and Tapi Baori are among areas in the walled city where people have been enduring dug-up roads for months.
Purushottam Goyal, a resident of the area, attributed this situation to corrupt contractors and colluding officials. “Nobody in the administration has any fear or even shame here despite Jodhpur being the chief minister’s hometown. They are all absolutely unempathetic to the residents’ woes,” said Goyal. Roads in Pratap Nagar have been left unrepaired even after the sewerage work was completed nearly a year ago. This has led to several protests by the residents. A broken road near Dali Bai Circle remains unrepaired till date despite a complaint about it having been lodged with the district collector and the CM’s OSD two months ago, said locals. After the CM’s warning, the officials started only patchwork on some broken roads.
But not the roads in Jodhpur. Gehlot failed to rid his home city of poor roads despite his open warning to civic officials that they must improve the roads if they want to remain posted in Jodhpur. He also told the officials that they should work with enthusiasm as they are posted in a chief minister’s city. But to no avail. Even a budgetary allocation of Rs 361.76 crore and repeated raps from the court failed to make the city administration improve the roads.
Several roads, once dug up for sewerage or gas pipeline work, remained unrepaired for months, sometimes for over a year. Roads in the walled city area are burning examples of this administrative apathy. Residents have been suffering all this while. Jaloriyon ka Bas and Tapi Baori are among areas in the walled city where people have been enduring dug-up roads for months.
Purushottam Goyal, a resident of the area, attributed this situation to corrupt contractors and colluding officials. “Nobody in the administration has any fear or even shame here despite Jodhpur being the chief minister’s hometown. They are all absolutely unempathetic to the residents’ woes,” said Goyal. Roads in Pratap Nagar have been left unrepaired even after the sewerage work was completed nearly a year ago. This has led to several protests by the residents. A broken road near Dali Bai Circle remains unrepaired till date despite a complaint about it having been lodged with the district collector and the CM’s OSD two months ago, said locals. After the CM’s warning, the officials started only patchwork on some broken roads.
