Workers clear the Lachit Nagar underground drain. Such holes dot the entire stretch of the road

Feb. 14: The public works department (PWD) has blamed the town and country planning (T&CP) district office for the delay in the repair of the Lachit Nagar main road which is in a pitiable condition for the past several years.

PWD officials said they could not carry out the renovation despite several appeals from local people because of the failure of the T&CP office to clean the clogged underground drain.

The road is over the underground drain, which comes under the jurisdiction of the T&CP office. The road gets easily flooded during the rainy season. T&CP officials could not be contacted despite several attempts.

A senior PWD official said there had been a proposal for the renovation of the road, but the work could not be started for the failure of the T&CP to clear the drain.

The official said they had planned to start renovation along with that of the Rajgarh-Bhangagarh Road which is slated to start this week. But now the Lachit Nagar project would have to wait for the T&CP?s failure to clear the sewerage, he added.

?We have received several complaints from the local people about the condition of the road. We do admit that the road needs an immediate repair, but we can do little,? the official said. He, however, added that the department would try to repair the potholes and make the road motorable temporarily.

The Lachit Nagar main road comes under three wards ? 36, 26 and 39.

Councillor of ward 36, Gopal Chandra Patowari, said the T&CP had recently conducted a drive to clear the drain, but it was only partially cleaned. ?After 17 years, the clogged underground sewerage is being cleaned by the T&CP. During last year, the entire stretch of the road was waterlogged for the first time. This was only because of the clogged sewerage,? Patowari said.

He said several unnayan samitis had submitted memorandums to the PWD for renovation of the dilapidated road. Lachit Nagar and Dakshin Sarania Unnayan Samity had also appealed to the corporation to take an immediate step to repair the road.

The road is also narrow and other than autorickshaws and cycle rickshaws, no other modes of public transport is available through the route.

Patowari said he had appealed to the residents to leave 3 feet on each side of the road to widen it.