The Times of India                 03.06.2013

City corporators get wake-up call, start repair work

VARANASI: Varanasi Municipal Corporation officials got a wake-up call, as they realized the work started by them is about to reach its deadline. Repair works of link roads, street lights, stone slabs in lanes, had to be completed before June 15 (before the arrival of monsoon) from a fund of Rs 984.88 lakh sanctioned in February, but VMC slept on it for three months to utilise this fund for works which are in urgent need of attention.

According to municipal commissioner, RP Singh, the work was delayed due to non seriousness of the construction department. "When I asked for a report from the department, it was found that the tenders and agreements for repairing street lights and roads have been done. There are some 187 roads, link roads, which have to be repaired. The work will start in one week's time", he informed. However, it is still not clear whether the work will be completed before the monsoon arrives.

The work is to be carried out as per the priorities and demands set by corporators of different wards. With 90 wards in the city, an amount of Rs five to Rs six lakh has been estimated for the work in each ward.

Earlier in April, chief engineer, VMC, SK Ambedkar said that the tenders were floated in March, but due to some reasons the work got delayed and the date was set to May first week. However, the work could not be started and it left the denizens in limbo.

It may be noted that due to constant digging of roads for laying down of pipelines under different projects, a big proportion of inner roads of the city are suffering from big ditches, unleveled surfaces and muddy conditions. Similar is the situation at serpentine lanes and link roads.