Chandigarh, June 16
The Punjab Government was inquiring into procurement, storage and use of crumb rubber modified bitumen (CRMB) in repairing village roads, besides constructing new ones. An assurance to this effect was given by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha yesterday.
The issue was raised by Mr Balwinder Singh Bhunder of the Shiromani Akali Dal during zero hour. Quoting a report published in The Tribune on June 14, Mr Bhunder said it was a serious matter as a number of roads made with crumb rubber modified bitumen (CRMB) by the Mandi Board and the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) had been stripped off their tops because of the poor quality of the material used.
In some cases, he said, a 10-km stretch of a new road was denuded within a few weeks of its construction, leading to the suspension of engineers, forcing the state to order fresh carpeting with normal bitumen. The number of such roads was large and in most cases, the PWD, which was not only the executing agency for repair of village roads but also the supplier of CRMB to contractors allotted the roads repair work.
The contractors had been protesting against the quality as well as inadequacy of the state in procuring and storing CRMB. The department was getting its supplies from only one source, he added.
He wanted the Punjab Government to get the entire case pertaining to procurement, storage and usage of CRMB investigated by an independent agency like the CBI.
Accusing the government of using two sets of rules, he said while there had been instant registration of cases on the basis of source reports against workers and leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal, the government was trying to sweep under carpet all serious complaints of corruption against members of the ruling party, including the ministers.
Mr Bhunder held that an organisation like the Mandi Board, which is spending money on repair of village roads, has already ordered that CRMB would not be used anymore. Other public sector undertakings, contractors and even engineers were against the use of CRMB. Favouritism or other irregularities in its procurement, storage and usage suggested a massive scam which must be investigated and a case registered against the guilty without delay.
The Speaker, Dr Kewal Krishan, who had allowed Mr Balwinder Singh Bhunder, to raise the issue before the call-attention motion, wanted the Chief Minister to reply to the charges made by Mr Bhunder.
The Chief Minister told the House that the “government was seized of the matter and it was being inquired into”. Mr Bhunder, however, insisted on the registration of a case and investigation by an independent agency. The Chief Minister, however, did not say anything further.
