Road cave-in case: 16 months on, no action yet against MTP wing officials in Amritsar

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, January 30

In a case of road cave-in due to the collapse of the basement of a building along the Mall Road in September 2022, the MC had found officials of the MTP wing responsible for the negligence. Though the MC Joint Commissioner had written to the Local Bodies Department to take disciplinary action against an ATP and a Building Inspector for allowing the construction of the building without approval, no action has been taken against them so far.

A major portion of the road leading to the residence of Amritsar North MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh caved in due to the digging of an adjoining building opposite Eminent Mall in the wee hours of September 24. Almost 20-foot long portion of the road was damaged due to the collapse of the basement.

Hardeep Singh, Joint Commissioner, MC, had written to the Director, Local Government, asking him to take disciplinary action against ATP Paramjeet and Building Inspector Dheeraj Kumar. In his report, the Joint Commissioner had written that a major incident occurred at 31, Mall Road, Amritsar, on September 24, 2022, in which a major part of the road was damaged due to illegal construction of the basement. The builder had only applied on the Invest Punjab portal and without approval, he started digging the basement. The building department served a notice to stop the work, but the builder continued with his operations.

In the course of work, the sewer line was damaged causing damage to the portion of the road. In this context, officials of the building branch did not act in a responsible manner and due to their negligence, the sewer line and the road were damaged. Besides, an illegal excavation was done. The Joint Commissioner recommended disciplinary action against Building Inspector Dheeraj Kumar and ATP Paramjeet. He had submitted the report within a week of incident, but the Local Bodies Department has not taken any action so far.

Prathamesh Mohan, an RTI activist, said, “I have written to the Director, Local Bodies Department, to take action on the report of the Joint Commissioner as the MC had to spend funds to repair the road and the sewer line after the incident. MTP wing officials have a clout with staff of the Local Bodies Department and they have succeeded in avoiding action against them. MTP wing officials are not being transferred from the city for years and no action is being taken against them even as they were found guilty. Senior officials of the MC are unable to curb the nexus.”