After Pune Grand Tour success, residents seek same standard for other city roads, end to uneven chamber menace

Anurag Tembhurnikar, a resident of Kalewadi, highlighting the safety risks, said, “Uneven chambers are risky, two-wheelers often lose balance due to sudden bumps or dips, and these are a major reason for accidents, even fatal ones. This unevenness also causes traffic disruption as many of them try to avoid them.”

Beyond safety concerns, residents say the sunken patches cause a physical and financial toll. “The sudden jerks when riding over these uneven chambers, that come as a surprise, cause back pain and even damage vehicle suspension, tyres and undercarriages, particularly for cars with low ground clearance,” said Netake.

Residents have also complained about the quality of repair work. Akshay Patil, a resident of Narayan Peth, said, “Several chambers become uneven again within a few days of repair because the cement or concrete used is often of poor quality or the repair is not aligned with the road surface.”

PMC’s new approach

Ashit Jadhav, Superintendent Engineer, PMC Road Department, told The Indian Express, “During Pune Grand Tour, the chamber levelling work was done in a carriageway contract. And post-event, the PMC is actively fixing uneven, dangerous, and protruding chambers across the city by implementing a new SOP to align them with the road surface.”

The new SOP includes an elaborate process by precisely cutting the area around each chamber, replacing lids or frames as needed, and levelling them with high-quality cement that hardens within four to five hours. Earlier repair work proved ineffective due to a lack of clear guidelines for contractors.

“Currently, the priority is given to level the storm water chambers, and around 10,000 of them will be brought to the road level. We have set an estimated deadline of March-end,” added Jadhav.

PMC spends Rs 7 to 8 crore annually on footpath and chamber repairs, with around 30 per cent, approximately Rs 2 to 2.5 crore, allocated specifically to levelling uneven chambers.

The chamber-levelling project began in November last year as part of the preparations for the Pune Grand Tour, employing advanced technology to raise over 15,000 chambers along the cycling route to road level. The success of that initiative has now become the benchmark residents expect for all city roads.