Potholes? This Maharashtra city allows residents to alert officials with app

Even as residents and activists claim there are thousands of potholes and craters across the industrial city, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation reported finding only 2,247 of them.

Residents question official figures

Abhay Bhor, president of the Forum of Small Scale Industries Association, did not agree with the figure. ‘‘The PCMC figure of just over 2,000 potholes underplays the situation. You will find more than 1,000 potholes in the Pimpri-Chinchwad-Bhosari MIDC area alone. I think the number is very high in the entire Pimpri-Chinchwad,’’ he said.

Advocate Sushil Mancharkar, a resident of Nehrunagar, also rejected the official figure and lamented that the situation on roads remained the same every monsoon. “Why can’t the PCMC construct better roads?” he asked.

The PCMC said its civil engineering department repaired 1,733 of the 2,247 potholes, adding that work to repair the remaining potholes was progressing on a war footing.

Here is a ward-wise breakdown of potholes: Ward ‘A’ – 121 out of 140; Ward ‘B’ – 80 out of 109; Ward ‘C’ – 124 out of 141; Ward ‘D’ – 215 out of 234; Ward ‘E’ – 330 out of 459; Ward ‘F’ – 109 out of 151; Ward ‘G’ – 170 out of 259; Ward ‘H’ – 87 out of 118; Ward ‘J’ – 51 out of 56; and Ward ‘T’ – 305 out of 332.

Additionally, 133 out of 240 potholes on roads under the urban transport department and eight out of nine in the civil projects department have been filled.