Urban News

The project will begin with the Naraina industrial area in the West Zone. The Corporation has chosen around 32 such roads across all zones and recently invited tenders. The company that will be awarded the contract will also provide pavements and drains along these roads.

The MCD, which promised concrete roads in Delhi in their budget this financial year, will use German bitumen foam technology. The technology, MCD claims, ensures longevity, smoothness and pothole-free surface for a period of more than 20 years.

The compaction, uniform thickness and smoothness of surface of these concrete roads is ensured through mechanical pavers for laying of roads.

According to MCD officials, though constructing concrete roads is costlier than normal bitumen roads, concrete roads prove to be more economical in the long run as they last longer.

“From now onwards, while all new roads will be laid in concrete, the MCD plans to top the existing bituminous roads with an ultra-thin white layer of fibre-reinforced, high-strength concrete,” an official said.

The decision to concretise roads is, however, facing opposition from many quarters, including from within the Corporation. Those protesting the project claim concretisation tampers with the natural process of rainwater percolating through the ground. “Besides, the Civil Engineering department has failed to understand the importance of creating slopes even along the concrete roads to enable the water to percolate through stormwater drains,” an MCD official said. “It thus defeats the aim of avoiding waterlogging,” he added. 

“Though the rainfall pattern in Delhi is not very encouraging, we need to harvest this water. It is further mandatory for civic bodies to ensure rainwater harvesting along all roads but it is hardly done. With concrete roads and little planning for seepage, the watertables will only suffer more,” activist V K Jain said.

German foam bitumen vs normal roads
According to the MCD, bitumen is not ideal for wet conditions as a result of which potholes are formed. Also, as per usual practice, every five years — the average life of a road — a fresh coat of bitumen is added on the stretch. This leads to an increase in the height of the road. With the foam technology, the old coat will be removed and crushed and prepared in a fresh cold mix and a layer using the German technology will be applied. This will not raise the level of road and also last for at least 10 years.

The team asked customers to get the vegetables they had bought weighed. In some cases, it was found that the vegetables weighed less than what the customers had paid for. The vegetable sellers were also given warnings.

It was decided that three electronic weighing machines would be set up in the mandis where customers would be able to weigh vegetables bought free of cost.

In a meeting of the Apni Mandi and Day Market Committee held recently, it had been decided that only those sellers who have certified weights and measures would be issued slips to sell vegetables. They have been given time till June 7 to get certification.

It was further decided that at time of issuing slips, time would be mentioned on it and no slip would be issued after 5 pm.

The team also found three-wheelers parked inside the mandi. These were asked to be removed. It was stated that the vegetable and fruit sellers unload goods outside the market and three-wheelers would not be allowed.

The parking of vehicles outside the mandi was streamlined. All vehicles were parked on one side of the road so that there was no traffic chaos.

Chairman of the Apni Mandi Committee J S Kang and members MPS Chawla and Ram Sumer Morya were part of the team. Chawla said, “The aim was to educate the vegetable and fruit sellers to follow the norms. So only warning was issued. In case of any further violations, strict action would be taken.”