Varun Gandhi writes to UP PWD Minister over poor road quality in Pilibhit

Pilibhit, Nov 14 (IANS) BJP MP from Pilibhit, Varun Gandhi has written a letter to Uttar Pradesh PWD minister Jitin Prasad, demanding "stringent legal action" against the contractor of Rural Engineering Service (RES) and the departmental engineers for alleged involvement in a scam in the construction of a 7.27-km long road at Puranpur tehsil circle under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

The development came after a viral video showed a local peeling off the uppermost layer of the road with bare hands.

The estimated cost of this road, which connects over a dozen villages with the Puranpur-Khajuria road, is Rs 4.27 crore and its construction was initiated on April 16 this year, as per the official records.

Varun Gandhi also asked District Magistrate Praveen Kumar Laxkar, during his one-day tour to his constituency on Sunday, to ensure interim action in the matter.

Meanwhile, Laxkar said that a joint team of the Additional District Magistrate (finance and revenue) and the executive engineer of PWD's provincial division verified the road's quality and "found it extremely inferior".

"The construction company concerned has been blacklisted with immediate effect while a departmental action has been recommended to the chief engineer as well as the principal secretary of the rural engineering department against the in-charge engineers, Munir Khan and Alok Verma, for the road in question," he stated.