Begin typing your search above and press return to search.

Admin firm on maintaining road levels

By PRANJAL BHUYAN

GUWAHATI, Sept 12 - The Kamrup Metro district administration has issued strict instructions to all civic departments concerned to maintain standard norms of road level during repair and resurfacing of any road.

The directive has been issued by Dr M Angamuthu, Deputy Commissioner of Kamrup Metro, under sections of the Disaster Management Act 2005.

�For the greater interest of the public in general, I have directed all the concerned engineering departments like PWD (Roads), PWD (B), GMDA and GMC to maintain standard norms of road level during repair and resurfacing of any road in and around Guwahati and the district,� he said.

Dr Angamuthu added that any violation of the guideline will be �treated very seriously.�

�It has been observed that whimsical increase of road levels violating the standard norms during repair and restoration of the roads is causing constant water-logging in the low-lying compounds of many areas, causing immense hardship to the residents of these localities. Several public complaints were also received in this regard,� he said.

He added, �It has also been observed that road level violation has been the standard practice in Guwahati with roads gaining several inches of height every time those are repaired or resurfaced. It is one of the major causes of water-logging in many areas of Guwahati city.�

Unplanned and unscientific raising of road levels and footpaths during repair or resurfacing has been a perennial problem plaguing the city�s development process.

Last year itself, residents of many localities including Nabin Nagar, Taiyabullah Road along the eastern boundary of the Dighalipukhuri and also those residing along the connecting road from Pub-Sarumataria to VIP Road, had complained about problems being faced by them as the levels of several roads and footpaths were raised by several inches to the already high road plinth and without maintaining the proper gradient.

The aggrieved residents had said that increasing the level of the roads and footpaths was causing not just serious inconvenience and huge economic losses for the residents, but was also complicating further civic problems such as water-logging, dampness of the soil and unhygienic living conditions.

In this context it may be mentioned that the Patna High Court, in a judgment over a PIL a few years back, had ordered the road construction department and other agencies concerned to stop raising the level of the roads all over the state of Bihar. The court observed that urban development guidelines, which provide for digging the old roads before constructing new ones, must be followed and that the agencies must ensure that the level of the road remains the same after any fresh construction.

The court even rejected the submission of the department that digging the dilapidated roads before re-laying fresh ones on them would entail additional cost.

Next Story