PWD sets up labs for quality testing of macadam

Srinagar: For the first time, the Public works department has established laboratories for testing quality of macadam which is paved on the roads across the state to ensure better roads in the state.

The department has deployed engineers at macadam plants and in the field for quality control mechanism of macadam. And in this backdrop, 12 tippers of macadam were rejected from a plant holder in south Kashmir’s Pulwama.

Chief Engineer Public Works department, Abdul Hameed told KNS that the newly appointed assistant engineers have been assigned to check quality of macadam and they have been fanned out at macadam plants and in the field.

“Quality checking laboratories have been set up at macadam plants and in the field where the engineers check the quality of macadam. 12 tippers were today rejected by the department after the macadam was found deficient in Bitumen chemical by the engineers in the lab in Pulwama,” Hameed told KNS.

“It saved the department Rs 5 lakh. Also, the plant holder has been given a notice and if he repeats his plant will be blacklisted,” the CE said.

The department was censured by public for using sub standard material in road construction and pavement of macadam. Complaints would galore that the macadam does not last long, and the department would blame the winters for it.

However, the Chief Engineer said that the department on the directions of the minister Naeem Akhtar has issued strict directions for maintaining quality control mechanism.

“It is for the first time that a plant holder has been warned. The department won’t tolerate errors and sub standard material,” he said.