Former Haryana Home Minister and senior Congress leader, Subhash Batra, inspected the ongoing installation of interlocking tiles along the roadside near the local Congress office in the city on Friday and raised concerns over the quality of materials being used in the project.
Batra alleged that tiles previously removed from the roadside were being reused in the ongoing work. Questioning the rationale behind spending public money on the project, he said reusing old material in the name of development raised serious questions about transparency and accountability.
During the inspection, Batra also questioned how the quality of construction work could be properly monitored in the absence of technical officials at the site. He also demanded that details regarding the reuse of tiles removed from the roadside, along with a complete account of the expenditure incurred on the project, be made public.
Launching a sharp attack on the state government, Batra said while the government continued to make tall claims about development, residents were still struggling with basic civic amenities. He stressed that officials should not confine their responsibilities to office work but must regularly visit project sites, supervise ongoing construction and address public grievances.
Meanwhile, Rohtak Municipal Corporation Commissioner Satyendra Duhan clarified that the work was merely being undertaken to relay the uneven footpath using the existing old tiles and nothing beyond the approved scope of work was being carried out.
He further asserted that the work was being carried out in a transparent manner under the supervision of the officials concerned. — TNS