Delhi govt launches app to track potholes

NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday floated a campaign to make Delhi pothole-free, by launching a mobile phone application that will help survey the roads.

The campaign, which is being managed by the Public Works Department (PWD) under the Delhi Government, gathered a lot of traction as 50 MLAS, along with PWD engineers, took part in road surveys. The MLAS on round uploaded pictures of the ongoing work. During the inspection, photographs of the pits and broken roads found at Chatterjee Place, Shakti Vihar, and Mithapur Road were sent to the PWD department and orders were issued to repair the roads with immediate effect. Other areas surveyed include Greater Kailash, Tilak Nagar, Jangpura and Karol Bagh.

In a series of tweets on Saturday morning, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “Campaign to make Delhi pothole-free begins from Saturday by PWD under the Delhi government. 50 MLAS, each accompanied by an engineer, will inspect 20-25 km of road stretch in their areas. The MLAS will click pictures of the potholes and other damages to upload it in the app with other details and locations. All the damages will be repaired immediately.”

A total of 1,897 reports have been filed with the PWD through the app, which can only be accessed by the MLAS. However, the maximum number, 1,181, of reports were related to roads being uneven, and not of potholes. The total number of potholes was 583, while 133 reports were filed about cases where the damages in the roads were caused by other departments.

Starting on Saturday, the campaign covered different areas of Delhi. “Even though a small percentage of Delhi’s roads are under the Delhi government, lakhs of vehicles make use of them. This is the first time roads are being inspected on such a large scale,” tweeted Kejriwal.

Applauding the effort, Kejriwal said this is the first time, such a unique campaign has been launched.