Deep milling delays repair works on Prabhat Road

PUNE: The tarring of Prabhat Road is progressing at a slow pace around two weeks after it started because of its “deep milling” for better alignment, prompting residents to urge the civic body to speed up the work.
Citing that the road had become accident-prone, the residents demanded that the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) should take necessary safety measures for commuters.According to PMC officials, the work would be completed by the month’s end.
“The residents raised the issue of rainwater gushing into houses if the road’s height was increased. The entrances of bungalows and other properties would be below the road’s level, if proper milling is not done. It may lead to accumulation of water,” said Dinkar Gojare, a senior official of PMC.
PMC officials cited unseasonal rain also as an obstacle on the Prabhat Road tarring work. “The tarring cannot be done on a wet road. So, the work had to be stopped at times,” said one among them.
A group of residents from the Prabhat Road area had opposed the PMC’s plan to build a concrete stretch from Law College to Deccan. They had claimed that the height of the road would increase, leading to the problem of water gushing into properties during the rainy season. The residents have now raised objections about the quality of the road and the speed at which the work is going on.
“One can easily see that the quality of the work is not up to the mark. We have kept our fingers crossed. Wish the road lasts until this monsoon season. The work quality must be improved,” said Dilip Randive, a resident of the area.
“This road is important and busy. The civic administration should make sure that a quality road is built, so that works need not be carried out multiple times,” said Kedar Paranjpye, another resident.
The residents also opposed the civic administration’s plan to redevelop around 1.2km stretch of Prabhat Road on the lines of “smart” J M Road. But the residents argued that the road stretch from Law College to Deccan was narrower than JM Road and wide footpaths would create trouble for commuters.
PMC officials said the concreting of Prabhat Road was proposed because of frequent waterlogging on the stretch and tar roads often developed damages. But the civic body decided in favour of tarring Prabhat Road after the residents’ opposition to a concrete road.
PMC is spending around Rs350 crore on key roads where potholes surfaced after the rainy season in the past couple of years. The first phase of the work has been started with Rs57 crore. The concreting of Prabhat Road was a part of it and PMC had planned to spend Rs5 crore on it.