Nagpur:

Interestingly, the budgetary allocation for road repair works in the last three years was Rs 30 crore (Rs10 crore each year), but the hotmix department failed to utilize even that amount fully.

During the period in question, the hotmix department had fixed or repaired potholes measuring around 1.63 lakh sq meter which is around three times the size of Kasturchand Park. However, despite this, there has been hardly any relief for the citizens. Experts and civic activists blame the civic administration for poor road quality and craters that come up frequently.

In reply to

query by activist Abhay Kolarkar, the hotmix department stated that in 2013-14, it had spent Rs4.11 crore on road repair works, including patchworks of road cuttings. Similarly, the expenditure in 2014-15 was Rs4.64 crore and in the current fiscal the amount spent was Rs2.99 crore.

Every year, the NMC sets aside funds under the category of road repair, which includes patchwork and strengthening roads using tar. Around 50% of the funds from the road repair works are spent on fixing potholes by using gravel and not following the methods prescribed by the public works department.

According to statistics, most of the patch works were carried out in

zone covering 80 spots. It was followed by Ashi Nagar with 64 and

zone with 34 spots. The department has also imposed and recovered a fine of Rs 2.81 crore from Reliance Jio for violating the conditions of the contract it had signed with the NMC regarding underground cable laying for 4G services.

Since the city witnesses heavy showers during monsoon, road conditions deteriorate every year that too within a few days of the arrival of the rains. Experts feel that various factors, including the type of soil, temperature, rainfall, traffic situations and other environmental reasons, are not taken into consideration while roads are laid in Nagpur.

Potholes on roads in areas like IRDP roads and other busy roads cause major problems for the residents, with motorists experiencing a bumpy ride.

“The quality of road construction is not properly monitored by the civic administration and this leads to poor quality work, which is the major reason for potholes resurfacing every monsoon. According to standards set by the Indian Road Congress, areas with heavy to moderate rainfall should have roads made up of concrete or bitumen. The width of the roads is not properly maintained across the stretch, leading to unevenness in road levels, which leads to waterlogging,” pointed out activist and secretary of Vidarbha Taxpayers Association Tejinder Singh Renu.

Other factors to blame for potholes resurfacing are roads that are improperly dug up for plugging leakages to the underground drinking and drainage pipelines.

In 2013, the then municipal commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal had ordered the public works department and water supply department to plan their works in coordinated manner so as to avoid rampant digging. Even

TOI

had highlighted many instances when roads were dug up for repairing drainage pipelines immediately after they had been constructed. At most places, shifting of the utilities had not been carried out to avoid such a mess, which clearly points at the lack of coordination between various departments even within the NMC. At many locations where there are no roadside drains, waterlogging has caused potholes and the civic body had to spend money for its repairs every year.

While Nagpur Municipal Corporation ( NMC ) claims to have spent Rs10 crore in the last two years and nine months to repair potholes on roads in various parts of the city, it has actually generated more revenue by giving permissions to dig up the roads. From January 2013 to November 2015, the hotmix department of the civic body has generated a whopping revenue of Rs125 crore by allowing various authorities to dig up the roads to carry out works like laying, repairing pipelines etc.