Gujarat government issues SOP for all civic bodies in state to ensure quality and time-bound road repair

“To ensure uniformity, quality and time-bound repair work with accountability, SOPs have been laid for the municipal corporations,” M Thennarasan, Principal Secretary, Urban Development department, told The Indian Express.

Following the collapse of the Gambhira bridge in Vadodara on July 9 and after the condition of roads and bridges in the state were put to question on social media platforms, the state government launched a statewide “damage control” campaign, directly reviewed by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, under which all municipal corporations and municipalities were directed to complete road repair works within a week. Also, several contractors and civic body engineers were issued notices, penalised and directed to undertake repair works at their own cost.

As on July 18, nearly 15,500 potholes were repaired across eight older municipal corporations in barely within a week’s time. Vadodara had the highest number of potholes, with more than 4,500 followed by Ahmedabad with nearly 4,300.

As per the SOP, for pothole repair, these along with other defects on the roads have to be surveyed on a daily basis by engineers concerned of the respective areas and the defects noticed by them have to be recorded. Residents can also file complaints through various modes, and those have to be recorded in a prescribed register and disposed of, as per the norms.

While minor potholes have to be repaired immediately, if possible, considering the severity of the potholes, repair work of seriously damaged roads causing extreme inconvenience to the public will have to be completed within a maximum of 48 hours. “Further, the photographs of the work done regarding all such complaints will be uploaded within 72 hours by the concerned engineer. In addition, a record including photographs of the work done shall be kept and the details of the complaint disposal shall be entered in the prescribed register with signature,’ the SOPs stated.

On ways to repair potholes, the SOPs stated that before carrying out any repair work, the area has to be barricaded for safety, irregular potholes should be marked and reshaped, horizontal and vertical surfaces of potholes and patchwork should be cleaned by scrubbing them with wire brushes, cold asphalt or emulsion must be sprayed on dust-free surfaces, hot mixes have to be uniformly spread, loose materials of hot mixes have to be applied in a layer of a maximum of 100 mm of thickness, spread along the road edge in a compact form. If there is a need for a layer with a thickness of over 100 mm,, the patchwork should be done in two to three layers by applying a premix layer and compacting it layer wise.

While ‘Cold Emulsion Injection Pothole Patching’ and ‘Infrared Recycling Pothole Technology’ have been suggested as new technologies for pothole repair work, as per the standards laid down by the government, municipal corporations have to open the repaired area for traffic after two hours of sprinkling stone dust.