Newly built Rs 80 lakh road in UP faces flak; residents peel off surface with bare hands

PILIBHIT: Residents of Bidhipur village in Pilibhit district have accused the public works department (PWD) of substandard construction on a newly built road, after demonstrating that its surface layer could be peeled off with bare hands.Village pradhan Chet Ram said the 4.6km stretch, connecting Bidhipur crematorium to Gajraula village, was commissioned on Feb 5 through a registered PWD contractor, Yaqub Siddiqi, at an estimated cost of Rs 80 lakh. "A 220m section was built with cement concrete, while the remaining part was laid using bitumen and stone aggregates," he said.Residents said they had filed a complaint two days ago with PWD executive engineer Rajesh Chaudhary and Pilibhit BJP MP Jitin Prasada, alleging substandard construction. Villagers said that despite this, there was no improvement in the quality of construction in accordance with the assigned standards and the work continued without a technical survey."This road was originally built around 10 years ago and has been repaired only once since then. It has already caused considerable inconvenience for commuters and villagers, particularly in transporting crops to procurement points on tractor-trolleys. The poor quality of the newly repaired road will only recreate the same problems," Chet Ram said.Notably, departmental engineers are responsible for verifying the quality of work at every stage of road construction to ensure that the contractor complies with assigned standards.While the executive engineer could not be reached for comment, district magistrate Gyanendra Singh said the administration would not let the quality of construction compromised under any condition. "A technical team will be deputed to physically verify whether the standards were followed. If the work is found substandard, stern action will be taken against the contractor, as well as the personnel of PWD liable for supervision and quality control," he said.