Lucknow: In yet another case of unauthorized digging, a big part of busy road at Neelgiri area of Lekhraj caved in and formed a 7ft deep pothole. Commuters and local residents of Neelgiri area continued to face traffic trouble on Saturday as well with the stretch out of bounds due to repair work.
According to local residents of the area, the road started crack to around 1:30PM on Friday after a tractor passed by at the road. However, just after five minutes the surrounding area of the road started to crack and quickly started to fall. As per Jal Sansthan officials, the pothole is 49ft long, 19.6ft wide and 7ft deep.
Jal Sansthan officials said that the road has been caved in due to illegal digging conducted by a private telecom operator for laying broadband wires. Jal Sansthan executive engineer BK Srivastava said, “We have lodged an FIR against the private contractor responsible for damaging public property. After laying the wires, the private player used substandard construction material to repair the road which led to the mishap.”
As per Jal Sansthan officials, the repair work has already started and it will take about three days to completely restore the road and the traffic to resume. Commuters who witnessed the incident said that a big accident could have happened and demanded strict action against the responsible.
Tanay Chandwani a commuter said, “Due to the festival season, traffic on the route has already increased and with the stretch out of bounds for public use, we are facing heavy traffic snarls in and around Lekhraj Market.”
Aviral Khanna resident of the area said, “The Jal Sansthan officials have assured us that the road will be repaired by Monday. However, i think that wont be possible looking at this huge crater. I wish no one gets injured while driving on the route especially on Holi.”
