Repaired potholes in Thane last till next downpour

The Thane Municipal Corporation’s (TMC) promise of providing good roads for the 10-day Ganeshotsav festival has been washed down the drain with the heavy downpour this week.

Brace for a roller coaster ride as most recently filled potholes and many new ones have resurfaced.

The corporation has not conducted a survey of the number of potholes on roads, nor the number of potholes that were repaired in the last two weeks.

Civic officials claimed that work of filling potholes is being undertaken at a war footing so that the roads will be smoother. The civic commissioner has also given orders to fill the potholes by Sunday.

However, a status check has revealed that the potholes are filled with loose gravels, paver blocks and sand, which come off soon after being filled.

The city has witnessed over 200mm of rainfall since September 3.

Most roads in the city this year have caved in due to the pressure of heavy rainfall. The pothole situation is worse than the previous year, as hardly any area is free of them.

The ongoing metro work combined with these potholes has led to massive peak hour congestion across the city.

Anjali Sonawane, 33, a resident of Kalwa, said, “Most roads, including the Ghodbunder service road and Eastern Express service road are riddled with potholes. Potholes have surfaced on internal roads in Charai, Naupada, Wagale Estate, Brahmand, Kolshet and Khopat areas. The situation is the same in Kalwa, where the entire road from Kharegaon to Kalwa Naka is riddled with potholes.”

The corporation has spent more than ₹70 lakh in the monsoon to fill potholes. Crores are spent every year in concretising and developing new road networks in the city, but there is no relief for commuters.

Swapnil Sinalkar, 35, a resident of Thane, said, “Every year, the corporation used to conduct a survey of potholes. This year, they have not surveyed the potholes nor have they given a data on how many potholes are filled. Potholes are filled using loose stones, soil or paver blocks, which come out immediately. The problem will not arise if the road work is of good quality.”

The corporation said though they have surveyed the potholes, the numbers keep changing with every downpour or pothole filling work.

Ravindra Khadtale, city engineer of TMC, said, “The work of filling potholes is continuously going on. We had filled most of the potholes since August 25. However, the potholes reappeared after heavy downpour this week. The civic commissioner has given orders to fill all potholes by Sunday. We have accordingly started the work to ensure that people immersing Ganesh idols on the seventh and tenth day of immersion do not suffer due to bad roads.”