Started ahead of PM’s visit, road repair work to continue: PMC

Pune: The civic body has decided to continue with road repair work despite postponement of Prime Minister's visit to the city.
Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had started a special drive to repair roads ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Pune. The administration has carried out repairs on Tilak Road, Nagar Road, and other places.
A PMC official said that heavy showers in the last couple of days have again damaged roads.So, the administration would continue with the repair work, he said.
The PM was scheduled to visit the city to inaugurate the underground Metro stretch to Swargate on September 26. The road department had faced criticism over poor condition of roads during President Droupadi Murmu's visit to the city in the first week of September.
The Pune city police wrote to PMC authorities to fix the roads for the PM's visit after they received negative feedback from the President of India's office staff that Murmu's convoy passed slowly due to poor roads and potholes. A PMC official said that Airport Road, Tilak Road, roads around Swargate, Civil Court, University Road, and Senapati Bapat Road were repaired ahead of PM's visit.
As per civic officials, the administration had faced a number of issues, like non-availability of repair materials, while carrying out road repairs in the last couple of months. The existing hot mix plant at Yerawada administration was not functioning properly, but the issue has been resolved now.
"PMC has started the hot mix plant. It is producing materials for road repairs. Repairs on stretches, where PM's visit was scheduled, have been completed. But road repairs are being carried out across different parts of the area. Not only the head office, but also ward offices are involved in road repair works," said Aniruddha Pawaskar, head of PMC's road department.
According to PMC data, the civic body has repaired over 10,000 potholes since April 1 this year. The civic data indicates that PMC has executed tarring works on approximately 12,000 square metres. It has utilised over 25,000 tonnes of repair materials, including cold mix, hot mix, and other materials in the last five months. Civic officials said that during last year's monsoon they repaired over 7,000 potholes. They also mentioned that 20,000 metric tonnes of tar macadam mixture and approximately 4,000 metric tonnes of cement mixture were utilised for road repairs.
Citizens said that the administration should ensure that the roads are kept pothole-free throughout the year.
"Heavy showers are causing traffic jams and potholes are making commuting dangerous. The authorities should make ensure that citizens are not hassled due to poor roads," said Ketki Kachole, a resident of Sinhagad Road.
"Public funds are being wasted as the civic administration is not able to provide pothole-free roads. Probability of accidents has gone up drastically and commuters' lives are in danger due to potholed roads," said Akshay Shinde, who travels regularly through Karve Road.