Pune: Lakhs of rupees spent on pothole-filling wasted
Pune: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) started filling potholes across the city after a lull in the wet spell. The work picked speed in the backdrop of the Chief Minister’s visit to the city. However, the filling washed away within a couple of days due to an unscientific method of filling.
The condition of the roads is back to square one. Thus, a huge amount of money spent on filling potholes has been wasted. This has raised a question mark over the PMC’s way of working.
Heavy rains in the past couple of weeks caused potholes on the city roads. Commuters have been finding it difficult to navigate through potholes and loose gravel. Accidents are taking place at many places. Injured were treated in hospital. Some of them have become handicapped permanently.
Roads were dug to lay drainage and water pipelines at many places in the city. The patchwork done to fill the dug-up roads was not done properly. This has damaged the surface. However, the repair work being carried out across the city is substandard and has made no qualitative difference.
Reason behind potholes
Waterlogging causes potholes on roads. Storm-water drains are not cleaned properly. Hence, water does not get drained properly. Many roads do not have storm-water drains. A major road such as Katraj-Kondhwa Road has no storm-water drains. This leads to a number of potholes.
QUOTE
“The PMC does not fill potholes in a scientific manner. The criteria set by the Indian Road Congress are not followed. There are cement and tar roads in the city. Tar roads develop potholes. The width and depth of a pothole needs to be considered while filling it. Where there are too many potholes, the road should be resurfaced with tar. The old road and material spread over it do not bind, which is of no use. The repair work is substandard. A filled pothole should last for at least one year,”
- Prof Bhalchandra Birajdar, CEOP, Civil Engineering
