Works of road dividers under scrutiny amidst claims of substandard construction

Alleged poor quality construction of road divider raises concerns: No digging of road

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The work of constructing a road divider worth Rs 16 crore is going on in the city from the funds received by the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) from the 15th Finance Commission. A divider has been constructed by excavating four to six inches in the centre of the road so far. As soon as municipal administrator Dr Abhijit Choudhary was transferred, the works which have reached the final stage are being done in poor quality. Meanwhile, municipal authorities have denied such allegations.

Roads were constructed by spending nearly Rs 274 crores from the government funds. However, no funds were issued for the construction of the road divider. In the financial year 2020-21, it was decided to issue Rs 16 crores from the funds received from the 15th finance commission. Its design was finalised and work started through a private agency.

Even though there is a cement road, the dividers were being constructed only after digging the road four to six inches. The work was going on as per the criteria for the past few months. Now when the construction of the divider has reached its final stage, the contractor has started erecting the divider without digging. The citizens in the Cidco N-2 area noticed the matter and called the municipal officials. Officials admitted their mistake.

Divider collapsed on Zakat Naka road

The garden department of the municipal corporation laid soil in the new road divider on Zakat Naka to MGM road. The unseasonal rain filled the road divider with water leading it to fall on the road. The divider was later reinstalled.

No chance of falling

Executive engineer BD Phad said that there is no question of digging. A portion of the divider falls on a cement road. The interior is a little underwhelming. A large amount of steel is used in the divider, so there is absolutely no chance of it falling.