It’s the same old pothole story in Pimpri

Civic activists point out that though road construction tops the agenda of the civic body,quality of roads is hardly given any importance. “The PCMC has constructed hundreds of roads through the length and breadth of the town. It is time,the civic body gives weightage to quality of roads,” said activist K Nambiar.

After four days of rain,the quality of Pune-Mumbai highway which was relaid by pumping around Rs 300 crore during Dilip Band’s tenure as has yet again been exposed. The part of the road from Pimpri to Kharalwadi exemplifies the state of the road. On Monday,two-wheelers had difficult time negotiating the road. “I saw at least two scooterist nearly tripping on the road. Some how they managed to control themselves. Had they fallen on the road,a heavy vehicle would have run over them,” said Raju Jagtap,a vendor.

When contacted,city engineer Eknath Ugile said his department has taken note of the potholes on the roads. “Instructions have been given to the concerned departments to immediately carry out the repair work,” he said. Ugile said whether they get it done from the contractor concerned or on their own depends upon the terms of the contract.

“But if the contractor is at fault,we will get the work done from him,” he said. However,activists say PCMC should black-list the contractors whose road gets ripped apart due to the rain. “It is obvious that quality of the road he made has not been good. If PCMC black-lists,other contractors will think twice before doing a shoddy job,” said activist Sanjeevani Pandey.