Unsafe Grille Work Endangers Mohali Roads
- Hazardous grille installations across Mohali lack barricades and reflective warnings, making stretches dangerous for commuters. - Commuters report navigating these unmarked works is especially risky after dark with little signage in place. - Civic agencies face criticism as residents demand safer practices and immediate remediation (hindustantimes.com).
Road-dividing grille work in Mohali is creating fresh hazards on the same roads it is meant to make safer, with open trenches and debris left exposed. (hindustantimes.com) Hindustan Times reported on April 21, 2026, that risky stretches were seen near Ivy Hospital in Sector 71 and Franco Chowk in Phase 2, where trenches along the central verge were left uncovered and iron grilles lay tilted inside them. Rubble and construction waste had spilled onto carriageways, narrowing space for moving vehicles. (hindustantimes.com) Commuters told the paper that many work points had little or no barricading, caution signs or reflective warnings, making the routes harder to negotiate after dark. One resident from Phase 5, Yogita Talish, said high-traffic roads should have been cordoned off with clear markings and safety barriers. (hindustantimes.com) The installations are part of a wider push to control dangerous driving patterns on Mohali’s major roads. The stated aim is to prevent head-on collisions, illegal pedestrian crossings, wrong-side driving and illegal U-turns by separating opposing traffic streams with metal barriers. (hindustantimes.com) That makes the execution central to the story: work-zone safety rules in India are built around keeping traffic moving past roadworks with visible warnings, barricades and lighting. The Indian Roads Congress says work-zone traffic management plans are meant to protect both road users and workers moving through or around construction areas. (law.resource.org) A former Chandigarh municipal corporation chief engineer, Shailender Singh, told Hindustan Times that high-speed corridors need signboards, continuous barricading, reflector taping, lighting and organized storage of materials away from traffic. He said skipping those basics raises crash risk, especially at night. (hindustantimes.com) Municipal Corporation SAS Nagar chief engineer Naresh Batta said the city had ordered debris to be cleared and radium taping to be restored. He said some earlier taping may have been tampered with or stolen, street lighting had been ensured, and full road closure was not feasible while the work continued. (hindustantimes.com) Batta also said such projects typically take around three months, which means commuters could be passing these work zones for weeks unless protections improve quickly. For drivers in Mohali, the immediate issue is not why the grilles are being installed, but whether the next trench or tilted barrier is marked before someone hits it. (hindustantimes.com)
