Road works on for a year in Nandanvan Colony, so are citizens’ sufferings
| Date :11-May-2023 |
Staff Reporter
The residents of Nandanvan Colony near Hasanbag Police Post are going through a lot of sufferings for last one year as they can not even park their vehicles in front of their own houses. When they approach their residences after parking vehicles elsewhere, they have to go through a rough road risking their lives. On taking up the issue before the authorities concerned, including Municipal Commissioner and Zonal Commissioner, their plights were ignored compelling them to write to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. But alas! the sufferings continue. Tired, disappointed and helpless, the residents are awaiting completion of the road concretisation works.
One wonders, why the Nagpur Municipal Corporation decided to construct cement road when tar road would have served the purpose. To add to the residents’ woes, of the two contractors engaged in road works, one has completed the work of concretisation on one part of the road. But the contractor who is handling the other part is going slow. The constructed part of the road is a bit higher than the under construction part of the road which is full of gravel. The under-construction road where stones, pieces of bricks are scattered, poses a great threat to the commuters as even walking on it becomes difficult.
Dr Raju Dave, on of the residents of the area, told ‘The Hitavada’, “To add to our woes, people park their vehicles at both ends assuming that the construction work is on. This leads to blocking of the pathway to out residences. We can not take our vehicles inside. I, being a doctor, get a call from patient or hospital where I have to reach because of emergency. The time being crucial, I have to arrange someone else’s vehicle to reach the spot.” Dr Anita Rao, former President of Vidarbha Industries Association (Lady Entrepreneur Wing), pointed out, “The work was not only shoddy but very slow. The contractor sometimes stops the work for the reasons best known to him. During recent spell of unseasonal rains, the road had become muddy making it difficult for us to ply on it. Last year, in April, the road was dug up for laying sewage line. The work continued in till September. We even suffered a lot during monsoon due to slush and mud.”
Sharing similar plight, Dr Dave said, “In April last year, they dug up the entire stretch to lay the sewage line. The contractor named Patel was from Ahmedabad. He laid the sewage line without any base, completed the work haphazardly. When we objected to the shoddy work, he used filthy language while his workers threw bottles in our residential premises. It was shocking! Why did NMC give the work of laying sewage lines to a Gujarat-based company? As if it was a very specialised work and NMC did not find anyone in city who could have done the job. Since the contractor did not lay the sewage line on the base, later on due to the weight of heavy vehicles it may get damaged and the sewage water may mix up with drinking water.”
Another resident of the area, Dr Alkesh Soni, said, the contractor did not bother to repair the road after finishing pipeline laying work. It led to uneven surface posing a big problem to us residents.” The residents here are suffering from multiple problems. In fact, those residing on the other side of the road are under the fear as they also have to suffer when the work on their side of the road would begin. They said, they want NMC should never do the concretisation of their part of the road. A resident put a valid question while talking to this Correspondent, “Can the citizens not have the right to choose whether they want such works be done or not?”