Over 98% potholes levelled across the state, says PWD
96% potholes fixed on 170 km roads in Lucknow; Kanpur Municipal Corpn claims patchwork on 100km roads, but insiders say less than 10% target achieved
: Over 98% (98.86%) of 59,572 km roads across Uttar Pradesh had been made pothole free by November 30 while only 56.65% restoration of roads was achieved by the PWD, said officials.
As for the state capital, the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) managed to fill around 96% of the potholes on 170 km of roads till Monday. It could only restore 26% of the roads, said Mahesh Varma, chief engineer, LMC.
“The LMC will repair rest of the roads tonight to reach the target of 100% pothole-free roads in Lucknow,” he added. However, the restoration of roads by relaying new ones would continue for a bit longer.
In October, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had directed officials to launch a massive campaign to make roads of the state pothole-free. He set November 15 as the deadline for repair of all roads. Later, it was extended till November 30.
“The PWD took up the challenge of repairing around 59,572 km of roads and has done well. The department spared a budget of ₹500 crore for the repair work,” stated Sandeep Kumar, engineer-in-chief, Public Works Department.
The Kanpur Municipal Corporation (KMC) claimed that it completed patchwork on 100 km roads.
The civic body had taken the responsibility of doing patchwork on 100km roads, whereas it has 1,219 km roads under its jurisdiction. The target achieved was less than 10% of the roads it maintains, said insiders, adding that 270 km roads remain full of “gaddhas”.
However, KMC chief engineer Manish Awasthi said the corporation had taken up work on additional 33km of roads and the job would be completed in next one week.
Similarly, the PWD claimed to have levelled 94% potholes on 884km roads.
“We have filled the potholes in urban limits and only a handful of roads remain in rural areas. It will be completed soon,” said Parvez Ahmad, chief engineer, PWD (Kanpur).
Many roads in Prayagraj still presented a poor picture. The old GT Road between Bahadurganj and Khuldabad crossing was one such example. Commuters were still dealing with around half a dozen potholes. Similarly, motorists passing through Baihrana crossing also had to maneuver around potholes.
Talking about all the sections of PWD roads, out of a total of 8623 km roads, work was to be completed on about 930km.
“A list of 137 dilapidated roads was prepared under the pothole-free campaign. For repairs in the urban area, 43kms of potholes had to be filled. This entire task has been completed,” said an executive engineer level officer.