Pune Municipal Corporation

potholes

Civic activists

Punekars

PIC: MAHENDRA KOLHE

PIC: MANOJ BIDKAR

In an unprecedented move,(PMC) has thrown up its hands, claiming to be incapable of curing the city roads of. The civic body’s officials blame this predicament on the incessant rains and ongoing infrastructure projects in the city.have trashed the excuse as an attempt to draw wool over people’s eyes to escape censure for its ineptitude in maintaining the roads.In the three months that the monsoons set in,have been grappling with potholed roads. Different developmental works being undertaken on many a thoroughfare are only adding to their woes. Now, PMC officials have made this shocking declaration, stating that they are unable to take a coordinated approach to road repairs, working in tandem with all the agencies involved.In effect, this has put paid to all the efforts the civic body was making, setting up WhatsApp numbers to receive complaints or offering quick patch ups with chemical concrete.“For us to conduct repairs we need a window period for the mix to settle. The unrelenting rains has not let that happen. The infrastructure works around the city are also inflicting more damages on the roads. But we cannot refuse permission for these exercises. Under the circumstances we’ve been doing whatever we can to attend to the complaints but evidently it is going to be a while before we can offer a fool-proof solution,” informed Anniruddha Pawaskar who helms PMC’s road department.To make matters worse, the continuous digging of roads for different reasons has made it impossible to collect fines from contractors or get them to make the repairs free of charge within the three-year lock-in period, which is subject to the road not being disturbed by other agencies.“We try to coordinate with the different agencies that work on the roads, when doing any repair, but there are situations such as leakage or water logging, when the road needs to be dug up post-haste. Similarly, utilities such as MSEB keep digging the roads for different reasons. In the face of these relentless attacks on the roads, we are unable to fine the contractors who have built the roads, for bad job or make them do the repairs for free. So we end up spending on the repairs from PMC’s own kitty,” Pawaskar complained.Activists rallying on civic issues refuse to buy into this justification. “Four years ago, when the city had a similar situation with potholes, the then commissioner had appointed a committee to find a resolution to the problem. At the time we prepared a detailed report and gave suggestions so the situation does not crop up again. These included strict vigil when repairs are undertaken or the roads are laid. However, the report was not heeded to and instead the authorities are now staking claim to such vulnerabilities,” pointed out Vivek Velankar, founder of Sajag Nagrik Manch.Similarly, Prashant Inamdar, convenor of Pedestrian First questioned the quality of roads being built. “We first need to find out why these roads are so susceptible to cracks and dents. There are a few roads that have been holding up for years. The rest of the roads suffer the neglect of authorities in monitoring their quality, rendering them prone to damage.”