Residents of Sirsa villages protest half-built roads; official promises quick action

People in several villages of Sirsa are facing problems due to road construction work being left incomplete for many months. Roads from Haripura to Dhudianwali and Ghukanwali to Khai Shergarh are in very bad shape. Stones have been laid on the roads but no further work has been done, causing accidents and damage to vehicles.

Villagers from Haripura, Jagjit Nagar, Dhudianwali and Patiratha gathered to protest. Villagers Jugraj Singh, Sukhdeep Sandhu, Jaskaran Singh, Bajir Singh and others said the road from Haripura to Dhudianwali was about 6-km long and connected them to Dabwali-Ellenabad State Highway-32. For the past eight months, the road had been dug up and left unfinished. Some parts have only stones on them.

Right now, it is the crop season. The farmers said it was very risky to take their tractors and bullock carts full of grain to the market. Tires of many vehicles had burst and even the feet of bulls were injured due to sharp stones. The villagers had complained many times, but all in vain. They warned that if the work was not completed soon, they would start a bigger protest.

In a similar case, the road from Ghukanwali to Khai Shergarh was also half done. The stones were laid four months ago but no other work had been done since then. The villagers say the stones are becoming loose and causing accidents. People are falling off two-wheelers and the tires getting damaged.

Kulwant Singh from Ghukanwali, Mangelal and Ravi Kumar from Khai Shergarh, and bus driver Sarvjeet Singh said they were suffering every day. Sarvjeet said his bus tires had burst four times already. “Travelling takes too much time and is very unsafe,” he said.

Lakhveer Singh, SDO, marketing board, said, “Yes, the stones have been laid there for a long time and people are facing problems. In winter the work couldn’t be done and now it’s the harvest season. I have told the contractor to finish the work soon.”

Haryana Tribune