Zahid Kashmiri
Pulwama 01 Oct (KNB) : The residents of Chakoora village of South Kashmir’s Pulwama have accused Jammu Kashmir Projects Construction Company( JKPCC) for using substandard material for blacktopping a vital road in their area.
The local residents informed KNB that around one and half kilometer stretch of Nayana Pulwama road from Chakoora to Astanpora village was blacktopped after eight years.
“The employees of JKPCC carried out the work during night hours” a local resident of Chakoora, Ghulam Mohammad said, adding that they became suspicious that something is wrong with the materials used for macdamisation due to which they avoided to work during daytime.
He added that their apprehensions turned true when the road rutted at multiple spots.
“The metallic surface suffered grooves within a day,”he said.
The villagers accuse JKPCC for using substandard materials due to which the blacktopping suffered erosion.
“They had macadamised the road only three inches deep instead of eight inches,” another resident, Mushtaq Ahmad said.
He added that Nayana -Pulwama is a vital road on which hundreds of vehicles ply each day.
“The blacktopping can’t withstand the rush of the heavy traffic movement,” he said.
The villagers appealed to higher ups of JKPCC and Roads and Buildings department to look into the matter and take erring officials to task.
Assistant Executive Engineer of JKPCC, Rayees Ahmad, told that he inspected the spot a couple of hours ago.
“Few grooves which have been caused due to rolling of tyres is a normal thing. This happens with all newly macadamised roads,”he said.
He added that within 15 days the rutting will be observed in the road due to plying of vehicles.
“The seal coat gets fastened to the surface beneath it when the vehicles ply throughout the road evenly.
“Our machinery is here we will repaired the rutted spots,”he said, adding that they will not make people to suffer.
“The concerned contractor has to take care of the road for five years,” he said.
He also refuted the allegations of using substandard material as false.
“Quality material has been used for the road,” he said.
When he was asked as to why they macdemising the road only three inches deep , he replied that they had provision for using 30 mm of Bitumen.
“We used a seal coat as a goodwill gesture out of own curiosity keeping in view frost conditions in winter here,” he added.(KNB)