UMC starts filling potholes; commuters claim won’t help

EVEN IF POTHOLES ARE FILLED, THEY ARE OF NO USE AS THEY ARE WASHED AWAY AND UNSAFE, FEEL MOTORISTS

ULHASNAGAR: The heavy downpour in Ulhasnagar for the last two weeks has created a lot of potholes on several major roads, paving the way for another year of bumpy ride for the commuters.

“Most of the major roads in the city have developed cracks. The roads have huge potholes that accumulate water during downpour. It becomes very difficult to see how deep the potholes are, resulting in bikes skidding,” said Rohit Singh, 36, a commuter who takes the

Nehru Chowk road in Ulhasnagar daily.

Commuters have complained of potholes on roads like VTC Ground bypass road, Nehru Chowk to Gol Maidan, Sachkhand Gurudwara Chowk to Kalani College Road, the road near Khemnani locality, Azad Nagar, Ayyapa temple and outside Central Hospital in Ulhasnagar.

“People from different areas of the city come to the Central Hospital with patients. The road outside this hospital has several potholes.

“Even if the potholes are filled, they are of no use as they are washed away and again turn unsafe for the vehicles,” said Rajesh Jaisinghani, 48, another commuter.

Since it stopped raining heavily this week, the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) has started filling the potholes in several areas.

However,

commuters claimed that the filling work was of no use.

“Crores of rupees are spent on the road repair works every year and the result is huge potholes every monsoon. What is the point in doing such shoddy work and wasting money?” said Rajkumar Patil, 32, another commuter.

The UMC is filling potholes with water-bound macadam technique (mixture of crushed stones, brick aggregate, filling material and water). Meanwhile, a tender of ₹6.5Cr for the road repair works has been floated.

“Most roads in the city are concretised while the road repair works on asphalt roads are carried out on a regular basis throughout the year. A tender has been floated for ₹6.50Cr. It will take eight days to finalise an eligible contractor and start the work of filling the potholes,” said Yuvraj Bhadane, PRO, UMC.

Ulhasnagar has around 130km of road in its vicinity, out of which 70km are concretised. “Potholes on the main roads will be filled first; then the internal roads will be covered. There are around 30km of main roads in asphalt category in Ulhasnagar,” added Bhadane.

RISHIKESH CHOUDHARY/HT PHOTO Potholes near Netaji Chowk in Ulhasnagar making it difficult for motorists to manoeuvre.