Road opposite CM’s residence caves in

BADAL MUKTSAR: The efforts of the state government to give an urban look to the ruling Badal familys native village by spending a huge amount seems to be not bringing in the desired results

Updated At : 07:19 AM Mar 31, 2015 IST

<p>The road outside the CM’s house in Badal village. Tribune photo</p>

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Badal (Muktsar), March 30

The efforts of the state government to give an urban look to the ruling Badal family’s native village by spending a huge amount seems to be not bringing in the desired results. Not just the road opposite the CM’s residence has caved in, a large number of date palm trees planted just about one-and-a-half-year ago have dried up.

At present, dust flows throughout the day in front of the CM’s residence. It speaks volumes about the usage of “poor quality” construction material in laying the sewerage system about two years ago. Though some repair work has been done in the past, the situation is still the same.

Even the officials concerned have faced the wrath of the Chief Minister in this regard in the past. Some villagers said the Chief Minister had recently ordered the authorities concerned to carry out repair work, but the work was yet to start.

The date palm trees planted to beautify the village are now drying and a number of pits are lying empty.

In November 2013, the Forest Department had transplanted nearly 250 date palm trees here after bringing them from Patiala.

However, officials of the Forest Department said every plant had its mortality rate and the date palm trees were no exception. Repeated attempts to contact Parmod Chand, Executive Engineer, Water Supply and Sanitation Department, Malout, regarding the sewerage system, proved futile.