The Hindu              31.01.2014

Deputy Commissioner inspects roads, takes officers, contractors to task

Deputy Commissioner D.K. Ravi on Wednesday surprised officers when he donned the role of an evaluator of road quality during his visit to a couple of wards in the town. The residents of these areas were also perplexed by the action of the Deputy Commissioner, who dug up road samples with a crowbar.

Mr. Ravi, who is also the administrative officer of the Kolar City Municipal Council (CMC), asked for a crowbar from the officers present and dug up portions of concrete roads in ward nos 3 and 35 to analyse quality.

He launched the surprise check following complaints from the people about substandard work in roads and drains pointing to the misuse of public money.

After inspecting concrete roads in these wards, Mr. Ravi expressed displeasure over their quality and took the officers and contractors concerned to task.

Jelly stone and cement were not used in the required proportion. Insufficient curing also resulted in bad quality of roads, the Deputy Commissioner observed and announced that Rs. 1.50 crore would not be released in view of substandard work. Work will be checked again after the roads are re-laid properly, he said and added that only then bills will be cleared.

Contractors will be blacklisted and action will be taken against the city project director and the technical staff of the municipal council if substandard quality persisted, Mr. Ravi warned.

CMC commissioner K.N. Jagadish, project director Server Merchant and assistant engineer Kotresh were present.