AMC serves notice to ASCDCL in connection with CCTV project

Aurangabad, March 9:

The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has sent a notice to the Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Limited (ASCDCL) stating why it should not file an offence against the contractors for digging up the cement concrete roads to lay CCTV cables in the city. The works to install 750 CCTVs is being done as a part of the Smart City Project.

Last week, the contractor dug up a concrete road at Chistiya Chowk. The AMC officials were unaware of it. Two days ago, the contractor again dug up the cement road from MGM to Octroi Naka with a breaker's help. For laying of a 4-inch cable, he dug the road by one-feet deep in the form of a trench. " The life span of the concrete road is reduced due to vibration on the usage of a breaker. Besides, the civic body had to sustain a huge loss in levelling these trenches after the works. The ward engineers had been authorised to file offences if anybody is found damaging the AMC's roads. We will have to remind them again," said the city engineer, S D Panzade.

Panzade said, " The Smart City contractor is digging the concrete roads on a large scale. Earlier, the AMC administrator A K Pandey had already given a demonstration on how to dig a road while laying a CCTV cable. Sadly, the work is not done under the guidance of an expert. Hence, we initiated to file offence against the contractor. Meanwhile, the ASCDCL has been asked to submit its reply in writing."

According to a technical expert, the cost of constructing a cement road is thrice the cost of constructing a tar road. The cost of constructing a 9-metres wide (and six-inch thick) cement road of length one-km varies between Rs 75 lakh and Rs 85 lakh.

AMC spent crores of rupees of roads

The AMC, with the state government's fund, had constructed roads of valuing Rs 276 crore in the city during the past five years. Besides, it had also spent between Rs 600 crore and Rs 800 crore on the construction of internal roads passing through each ward in the past decade. It may be noted that the roads are dug up for water connection by plumbers, to lay telephonic cables by mobile companies including BSNL and to lay electricity cables by MSEDCL.