In what is intended to be a Diwali gift to the residents of Delhi, the Public Works Department (PWD) will race against time to fill potholes, refurbish green belts and paint kerbs and iron grills, before the festival later this month.
PWD Minister Satyendar Jain took to Twitter to share pictures of the drive, which has been taken up across Delhi and was inaugurated by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia at east Delhi's Mayur Vihar earlier this month. The drive is a part of a larger project aimed at refurbishing arterial stretches, identified by the PWD, in a phased manner within six months.
A senior government official said the PWD had been directed to fill potholes before October 30, following which longer stretches in the Capital would be re-laid. “The relaying of arterial roads that cater to a significant volume of traffic, which should be done every five years, has been delayed by two years, leading to their relative weakening and potholes. The PWD intends to complete the project by March next year,” said the official, adding that the initiative would “become visible on many main roads” over the coming days.
Another official said the government was in the process of evolving, seeking expert advice to ensure that engineering faults were corrected and potholes were filled up in “as permanent manner as possible by next year”.
According to statistics compiled by the PWD, peak monsoon showers this July triggered over 1,248 water-logging complaints and 1,184 road-related complaints, while 576 complaints related to the former and 1,305 related to the latter were logged in August.
These complaints, the official said, were mostly from areas such as Ring Road, Defence Colony, South Extension, Nehru Place, Sarai Kale Khan and the Okhla junction, making commuting through points such as Tilak Nagar, Mangolpuri, Daulatpur, Malviya Nagar, Saket, Hauz Khas, Aurobindo Marg, Karampura, IGNOU Road, Karol Bagh, Khajuri Khas, Sarita Vihar Apollo a “nightmare for drivers”.