To answer man's queries, AMC makes a road on paper!

A citizen wrote to AMC to know about the status of road construction in his area only to realise that the roads have indeed been made but only in AMC's records!

In February 2019, Yash Parmar of Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch wrote to the East Zonal Office of Civic Body requesting them to provide basic amenities including roads in some pockets of Ramol-Hathijan Ward.

Parmar, in all, had queries about five specific roads in the Jashodanagar area of the ward to which the civic body responded stating that construction of three roads would be initiated by 2019-20. It was the status of the other two roads that sent Parmar in a shock.

For, the AMC replied that the two roads-one near Bhannath Ashram and the one from Davelala Pan corner - had already been made.

"The AMC in its letter told me that a new road near Bhannath Ashram has already been made. It also mentioned about another finished road but that road is incomplete. The one near Bhannath Ashram is nothing but a 'dirt' road and I am surprised that in the AMC's books the road has been constructed!" said a shocked Parmar. He said the locals can also vouch for the fact that there is no road near Bhannath Ashra,

"This is nothing but sheer negligence on the part of AMC. The civic body needs to finish the work soon and get a road there as people have been demanding it for long now," said Parmar.

The AMC, meanwhile, had an interesting explanation about why it said the road has been made. "Two roads including the one near Bhannath Ashram has been made at the crust level," said additional city engineer Pranay Shah of East Zone.

It should be noted that making a road at crust level means levelling the area. He said this could be the reason why the letter said the road was made.

KEY INSIGHTS

• In February 2019, Yash Parmar wrote to the East Zonal Office of AMC, requesting them to provide basic amenities including roads in Ramol-Hathijan Ward
   
• The civic body replied that the two roads had already been made