Ludhiana: Manholes vanish during road recarpeting work
MC superintendent engineer Sham Lal Gupta says the matter will be looked into and responsibility will be fixed if any violation is found; experts say negligence could cause inconvenience during the rainy season or in case of sewer line choking
Several manholes were covered by bitumen during the road recarpeting drive in Shaheed Karnail Singh Nagar, area residents have alleged. As per the tender conditions, the contractor was required to lift the manhole covers using a hydra machine and bring them to the level of the road before re-carpeting, but the contractor’s workers chose to cover them completely, making them invisible and inaccessible, the residents said. The municipal corporation has said the matter will be looked into.
Besides, area residents also alleged that several stretches in the locality have been resurfaced without properly levelling the manholes.
Gurpreet Singh, a resident of the area, said, “When the MC spends lakhs of rupees on road recarpeting, why can’t they ensure basic compliance? Now, the manholes are buried. In future, if any sewerage blockage occurs, it will become a major problem to locate and open them.”
Another local resident, Harjinder Kaur, said the issue had already been brought to the notice of the officials, but no corrective step was taken. “The work seems to be done in a hurry without proper inspection. If the manholes are covered like this, it will require digging the road again for even small sewer repairs, wasting public money,” she said.
Experts say such negligence could cause major inconvenience during the rainy season or in case of sewer line choking. “Each manhole has a purpose — it allows access for cleaning and maintenance. If it’s buried under tar, the entire network becomes difficult to manage,” said a retired MC engineer.
When contacted, MC superintendent engineer Sham Lal Gupta said the matter would be looked into. “The responsibility will be fixed if any violation is found,” he added.
