Jalandhar: Sodal road residents flay MC move on replacing tiles with CC flooring

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, April 25

Raising questions over replacing old interlocking tiles with cement concrete (CC) flooring on Sodal road (from Sodal Chowk to Leader Factory), the residents of the area have written a complaint to the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary and the Municipal Corporation Commissioner demanding an inquiry into the matter.

Rajan Sharda, an industrialist, claimed that old interlocking tiles were in a good condition and there was no point in replacing it with cement flooring this early. He said an amount of Rs 92 lakh was spent to install these tiles in the past, but by removing the same, the MC is indulging in unnecessary expenditure,” he alleged.

He said the residents have demanded an impartial inquiry into the matter as dismantling good condition tiles was nothing but sheer wastage of public money.

“On one hand, majority of the roads were lying in a poor condition and the MC has no sufficient funds to carry out the construction work, but on the other side officials of the civic body are misusing money on works, which are not required at all,” alleged another resident Jitesh Kumar of Shiv Nagar.

The accountability must be fixed and reasons, why the tiles in good condition were being removed, should be shared with public, he added.

“This is all the result of poor management. Firstly, an enormous amount was spent on laying these interlocking tiles along the roadsides, and now by removing the same that too in such a short span, the MC is not only wasting public money but rendering severe inconvenience to the commuters and residents,” said Simarjot Kaur, a housewife. She further said not a single tile was broken or had cracks and could have been used for a few more years.

MC Commissioner Karnesh Sharma said he would look into the matter as when these tiles were laid and for what reason they are being removed now. He said as the road leads to industrial area and there used to be movement of heavy vehicles on the road, this could be one of the possible reasons behind replacing tiles with cement flooring.

Contrary to the claims of residents, XEN Rahul Dhawan said tiles were quite old and were laid in 2014-15. He said the corporation has recently laid a storm water system here and thereafter re-constructed the road. “To equal the levelling and to cater to the movement of heavy traffic on the road, the tiles are being replaced with CC flooring. Besides, the removed tiles would be reused for other purposes,” he added.