Four officers of the PWD department in Punjab has been suspended by the state govt after a video appeared showing construction of a road in heavy rain. The Bizarre video went viral on social media platforms in which a man from Hoshiarpur, Punjab, could be heard calling out Punjab’s Public Works Department engineers for recarpeting a road amid heavy rains. Despite him asking them repeatedly to stop working, no one paid heed and continued to work. The person who took the video was an Aam Aadmi Party worker who had said that he would forward the video to CM Helpline.
#WATCH | Four officers of PWD suspended by Punjab government after a video of road construction from Punjab’s Hoshiarpur during rainfall goes viral pic.twitter.com/osKT6kMflG
— ANI (@ANI) July 10, 2022
The video was shot at the road connecting Nangal Khiladiya and Sherpur Village of Mahilpur block of the Chabbewal constituency. Gurvinder Singh, the person who shot the video, could be heard asking the workers not to build the road in rain. He was bluntly ignored by the workers as well as the officer-in-charge present there, and the work continued.
A one-minute 20 seconds long clip was shared by News Agency ANI. Gurvinder said in the video that he would take the name, number, and address of the contractor. He asked a worker if the road would hold as it was being constructed amidst heavy rains. When the worker did not reply, he turned towards the road roller driver and said, “Have some shame, Sardar Ji. You are wasting the hard-earned money of the public. This is Aggarwal Construction Company from Hoshiarpur.”
He further said, “The person-in-charge said they had a truck of material ready to be used. They had to use it. But while using the truck full of material, they have wasted a lot of government’s money.”
As per the suspension letter shared by The Tribune, four engineers were suspended by Public Works Department. The order said, “A video is going viral on Social Media in which it has been shown that a road in District Hoshiarpur is being constructed during rain.” The four engineers who got suspended were Sub Divisional Engineer Tarsem Singh, Junior Engineer Vipan Kumar, Junior Engineer Parveen Kumar, and Junior Engineer Jasbir Singh.
It is notable that water is considered an enemy of asphalt, the material used for making roads. Water slowly breaks down asphalt, creating potholes, which then continues to to expand. Building such a road during rain means that the asphalt will not create any bonding, and will be washed away by the water.
