Nashik civic body starts work to fix 10,000 potholes

Nashik: The heavy rainfall over the past few days has left behind over 10,000

potholes

across the city, said Nashik Municipal Corporation (

NMC

) officials.

According to NMC officials, around 2,500 road potholes have been repaired, while the remaining potholes are to be repaired over the next few days.

Nashik municipal commissioner Kailas Jadhav told TOI that he has already instructed the public works department officials to carry out the road

repair

works on a war footing.

Jadhav said tarring work was not done during the monsoon period and for now, potholes are being temporarily filled with construction waste. The road repair work with tar will be done after the rains, he assured.

“Instructions have been given to the PWD officials to immediately float a tender for the repairing tar roads across the city and finalise the agency so that the repairs can be started once the rainy season is over,” said Jadhav.

The activists claimed that the poor quality of roads is leading to creation of the potholes. “Poor quality of material like murum and construction waste are used to fill up the potholes temporarily which gets washed away after the rains,” said Sachin Ahire, an activist, adding that the NMC should repair the roads with tar.

The PWD officials said they have already started repairing roads. “It is the responsibility of the contractors to repair and maintain the roads during defect liability period. The potholes on the old roads are repaired by the NMC itself, said NMC officials.

Abhay Kulkarni, chairman of the Nashik First, an NGO, said that the contractor should be held responsible if the potholes are created. Moreover, the NMC should try concreting maximum roads for longevity.