Odisha AG for Vig probe into road construction in city

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jun 5:

The Accountant General (AG) of Odisha has urged the State Vigilance to probe the construction of a bitumen road on a concrete road by the Public Works Department (PWD) in Bhubaneswar.

In a letter to the State Vigilance, the AG said the Bhubaneswar Municipality had constructed cement concrete road in lane number 3, 5 and 6 in Buddheswari Colony at a cost of Rs 14.32 lakh in 2007.

Later, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) handed over the road to the Public Works Department (PWD) in 2014.

After the roads were handed over to the PWD, the Bhubaneswar PWD Division-I reconstructed the roads by adding a layer of bitumen on these concrete roads.

The AG said since the normal lifespan of a concrete road is 20 years as per the guidelines of the Indian Road Congress, these concrete roads built in Buddheswari Colony should have lasted till 2027.

“How come these concrete roads were damaged after seven years of construction? Why did the PWD, instead of repairing these concrete roads as per the guidelines of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), reconstructed the roads by adding a layer of bitumen on it?” the AG asked and urged the Vigilance for a thorough investigation into it.

However, the PWD has said reconstruction of these roads was necessary as theyhad been badly damaged.

“We had taken the photo of these three damaged cement concrete roads. Since it would take at least 15 days to reconstruct these roads with cement and concrete, it would create severe traffic congestion in these aeas. Taking this into consideration, we decided to add a layer of bitumen on these roads and completed the construction works as early as possible to ease the traffic. Moreover, as per rules, bitumen can be laid on the concrete road for reconstruction”, said Ajit Prasad Mohapatra, assistant engineer, PWD.