He has been allowed a special corridor to his shop-cum-main election office on Bibi Wala Road. The passage on the road divider clearly says that the SAD leader and people coming to his office from Bibi Wala Road side need not go a few metres ahead to take a U-turn from the roundabout to reach the office.

While the passage clearly draws one’s attention and poses a traffic hazard, the district administration has turned a blind eye to it.

“I am not aware of the special passage. It might have been there due to the election office,” said Bathinda Municipal Corporation Commissioner DP Gupta.

Public Works Department (Building and Roads) also shrugged off the responsibility with the Superintending Engineer (SE) AK Singla claiming that even he was not aware of any special passage on the divider. “The special passage can be allowed only if road is connecting to some street from that point. I will look into the matter and if there is no street, the divider will be plugged,” said the SE.

“This is not in my knowledge. I will get it checked,” said Bathinda Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tewari.

Singla, however, claimed that he “never asked” for the special passage and that “it was built during the Congress rule”. But when told that the divider was constructed after the SAD-BJP government took over the reins of the state, he said, “We will get it plugged if it is causing any inconvenience to the public.”

The Bibi Wala Road widening project, under which the divider was constructed, is also courting controversy for the alleged biased approach in removing the encroachments on the road.