Dug-up road sees only temporary repairs after water pressure testing work
Residents of Aundh are bearing the brunt of chaotic traffic on the busy ITI Road because of a tug-of-war between the road and water departments of the Pune Municipal Corporation.u00a0
Accident waiting to happen: Two of the many shoddily filled spots on ITI Road, which connects Aundh and Baner. Pics/Krunal Goasavi
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The road, which connects Aundh and Baner, has been dug up for 15 days now for water pressure testing in Aundh. Some repairs have been done, but these are of a temporary nature.
The head of the road department said it would not be able to look in to the matter as the road was dug by the water department for emergency work. The head of the SNDT water supply centre, from where water is supplied to Aundh, said that the testing work had been completed and the department was trying to fill up the dug-up patches as a temporary measure.
Residents of Aundh said the ITI road was being dug up frequently for various reasons and the repairs done by the civic administration after the works always were temporary. They said they wanted the civic body to do a proper tar job on the road.
Sarayu Sanghavi, a resident of Shivalik Society on ITI Road, said frequent digging and resurfacing of the road was making the lives of pedestrians and vehicle users miserable.“Around 15 days ago, the road was dug up for water pressure testing and after the work done, the water department didn’t repair it by tarring it,” Sanghavi said. “All this is not only causing heavy traffic but also accidents as vehicles are prone to skidding on the patchy road.”
A resident of Anand Park, Girish Deshpande, said that a 300-metre stretch on ITI Road was the most dangerous. “The narrow road causes a lot of traffic jams, particularly in the evening,” Deshpande said. “There are eight to 10 patches on the ITI Road which have been dug up and then repaired on a temporary basis. Motorists usually avoid passing over these patches out of fear of skidding and stop abruptly right in the middle of the road, which gives rise to immense traffic problems.”
He said that he had tried to contact the road department of the PMC, but received no reply. Road department head Pramod Nirbhavane said the water department digs roads without informing the road department.
“It is expected that once the work is done, they should inform us so that we can tar the road,” Nirbhavane said. “However, the water department has not yet informed us about the work on ITI Road.”
SNDT water supply centre head Madan Adari said the work on ITI Road was done and the water department was trying to fill up the patches as a temporary measure.u00a0
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