Contractor playing truant, people suffering a lot
Traffic cops fail to manage disorder on alternate routes
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Aug 4: What began as a simple resurfacing job on the Jammu flyover has spiraled into officially manufactured chaos leaving commuters to battle dust and diversions. To make matter worse, hundreds of vehicles are being forced onto inter-city roads that are already facing chaos due to mismanagement on the part of the Traffic Police personnel.
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Several days ago, the surface of the entire flyover— from the Chief Education Officer’s office to the Tawi Bridge was scarified to prepare it for fresh blacktopping. Initially, commuters expected that the Roads and Buildings (R&B) Department would take up the second tube of the flyover only after completing work on the first. However, to their surprise, the top layer of the second tube was also scraped simultaneously.
After completion of top layer removal work, the work has inexplicably stalled leaving a vital lifeline of the city crippled and thousands of daily commuters stuck in chaos. The contractor, who was allotted the work by the R&B Department, has failed to resume operations with no machinery or manpower deployed at the site even several days after the initial activity.
Due to the rough and unfinished surface of the flyover, commuters are being forced to divert onto already congested and overcrowded city roads turning daily travel into a nightmare. The situation has been worsened by the complete failure of Traffic Police personnel to enforce basic rules and manage the flow leaving the public to navigate gridlock, confusion and frustration on their own.
Bus Stand, Canal Road, Talab Tillo, Dogra Chowk and Jewel Chowk have turned into pressure points bearing the brunt of diverted traffic and administrative inaction. Surprisingly, the Traffic Police deployed at these choke points to handle the situation are rarely seen allowing disorder to spiral and making life even more difficult for the public.
“There is no sign of any work, no machines, no labourers—just an uneven, dusty surface”, a number of daily commuters told EXCELSIOR on telephone, adding “it is a nightmare. Few minutes’ drive now takes over an hour. They further said, “there was no point in scraping off the surface of the flyover unless there was a proper mechanism for blacktopping it immediately”.
Due to the continued non-utilization of the flyover and the resulting traffic chaos on alternate routes, students are among the worst affected as school vehicles are getting caught in long queues on congested roads causing significant delays in reaching home. “How work on a vital flyover can be left halfway”, asked some students.
When contacted, officers of the Roads and Buildings (R&B) Department said the contractor had initially assured that blacktopping would commence immediately after the completion of the top layer removal. However, he has since been playing truant failing to mobilize men and machinery as promised. The department has now taken a serious view of the delay and has issued a formal warning to the contractor for breaching the execution timeline.
They also pointed towards a communication addressed to the contractor dated August 1 and said there was delay in scarifying along with cleaning without which the BT cannot be laid. “There was also delay on the part of contractor in submitting methodology with pert chart, declaration of source of bitumen with complete details like manufacturer/supplier, address, date of dispatch, purchase history along with invoicing and transit particulars”, they added.
“If he fails to start blacktopping work immediately, action as warranted under rules will be initiated against him”, they further said.
However, sources said that had there been violation of timeline by the contractor the contract should have been immediately cancelled. “For the convenience of the contractor, public cannot be put to hardships”, they added.
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