Supreme Court directs PWD to give tally of city’s potholes

New Delhi: The Supreme Court-appointed committee on road safety, headed by S. Sunder, has directed the AAP government’s Public Works Department ( PWD) to audit all potholes in the national capital to verify whether they have been rectified. Earlier, PWD officials claimed that 3,945 potholes identified during a special drive had been rectified. Taking a strong note of lack of a mechanism to monitor the condition of the roads, the committee has also directed the state government to authorise the transport department to monitor the condition of the roads belonging to all road-owning agencies in the city.

At a recent high-level meeting, the committee expressed concern over the fatalities occurring due to potholes as these were not only posing a threat to the lives of commuters, but were also a major cause of congestion on roads. According to the minutes of the committee meeting accessed by this newspaper, the PWD had conducted a 15-day special drive and identified 3,945 potholes across the city. PWD officials stated in the meeting that all potholes had been rectified. The officials also stated that sometime potholes occur as the roads had to be cut for utilities. The committee asked the PWD to lay down a protocol in this regard and follow the same at the time of maintenance of roads.

Despite PWD officials claim that all potholes have been rectified, there are a large number of stretches left out where potholes need urgent repairs. For instance, a road connecting ISBT Kashmiri Gate flyover to Shastri Park intersection has developed several potholes.

Similarly, another road connecting Old Railway Iron Bridge via Marginal Pusta Road to Khajuri Chowk also has a number of potholes. Even there are potholes on Old Iron Bridge in the Yamuna river. Broken footpaths, dislocated kerb stones, missing signage, potholes and mis-sing grills are some of the common problems spotted on the capital’s road.

A survey by the School of Planning and Arch-itecture pointed out that overloaded trucks entering Delhi cause maximum damage to footpaths and city roads. Also, the civic and transport agencies do not have a mechanism to check the overloaded trucks.

Potholes on roads are emerging as one of the biggest killers. With almost 30 deaths reported every day, potholes and speed breakers have claimed over 15,000 deaths for the last three consecutive years.