13 months on, construction of road in Faridabad remains incomplete

Bijendra Ahlawat Faridabad, May 29 Even after 13 months, the construction work of 870-metre stretch by the Municipal Corporation, Faridabad (MCF), has not been completed, thanks to the delay in payment. The repair work of the road connecting Hardware Chowk...

Tribune News Service

Updated At : 01:24 PM May 30, 2022 IST

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad, May 29

Even after 13 months, the construction work of 870-metre stretch by the Municipal Corporation, Faridabad (MCF), has not been completed, thanks to the delay in payment.

The repair work of the road connecting Hardware Chowk and Pyali Chowk in the NIT area here began in April last year, but less than half of the work has been completed. This has led to inconvenience to commuters as this road is one of the most-used roads in the city, said sources in the civic administration. Revealing that the project was taken up after a series of protests by the residents and a string of accidents, an official, on condition of anonymity, said the delay in release of the payment to the agency constructing it caused the latter to stop work for at least three to four times in the past 12 months. While the work of urgent nature deserves advance payment, the authorities failed to release the payment of the bills raised after work, it is claimed. Given the pace and the hurdles, the project costing Rs six crore is unlikely to be completed this year, says the sources, who add that recent blacklisting (delisting) of the contractor by the authorities has aggravated the problem.

“The passage, which is the lifeline of the city linking the most densely populated areas and industrial sectors, has been in a miserable condition for the past many years,’’ says SK Sharma from the Road Safety Organisation (RSO), an NGO, involved in traffic safety work . “Being one of the busiest stretches where hundreds of vehicles pass every hour, the delay in the work has proved as a major harassment,” he adds. “The residents are at the receiving end due to failure of the authorities to ensure the completion of such a small stretch even in 13 months,” says Baba Ramkewal, who led a protest over the issue in 2018.

Padam Bhushan, Executive Engineer, MCF, claimed that while 50 per cent of the work had been completed, he said the delay in release of the payment had led to the hurdle.