Substandard construction in Lundkhwar: Residents urge CM to order probe

PESHAWAR: Residents of Sanga Banda (village) in Lundkhwar town of Mardan district have expressed concern over substandard material used in the newly-constructed village road and demanded the chief minister to order a probe into the matter.

The village elders said the road was in dilapidated condition for a long time and their prayers were recently answered when the government approved funds for the road construction.

According to the elders, they were anxiously waiting for the road construction but were disappointed when they saw the contractor using substandard material.

“First, they used very poor material in the road and then failed to build sidewalls for road protection, especially at some critical locations,” said Col (r) Roohul Amin, a resident of Sanga village.

He said the road had been narrowed and would get damaged beyond repair if a loaded vehicle travelled on it, particularly on its side.

He said the villagers in their capacity raised the issue of blacktopping material used in the project as it is very thin in diameter, which will lead to the breaking of the road after some time.

Also, the villagers tried to get attention of the high-ups towards issues in the road levelling, left uneven in many places, apparently due to substandard material.

Some of the residents alleged that the contractor is a close associate of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) local leader, which was why no notice was taken of the poor quality of work and wastage of public resources.

Minister for State Ali Mohammad Khan and a local PTI MPA had separately inaugurated the same road, not even bothering to check its quality to find out whether or not it would help resolve issues of the community.

The road is stated to be built with efforts of former additional chief secretary Shakeel Qadir Khan but he couldn’t pursue it to ensure the quality of work as he was transferred and appointed chief secretary, Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

“We demand Chief Minister Mahmood Khan to take note of the poor material used in this road and send his team to physically verify what we are complaining about,” said the retired military official and resident of Sanga village.