Mumbai : On Friday, Shiv Sena leader and Yuva Sena president Aditya Thackeray’s luxury sports utility vehicle (SUV) hit a pothole near Ghoti village on the way to Nashik, suffering multiple tyre burst. Thackeray, who is on a two-day tour of Nashik, was however, not injured and made it safely to his hotel in another car.
Shortly after this, the National Highways Authority of India received a message to repair sections of the pothole-ridden Mumbai-Agra National Highway from police, sources said.
In 2015, Aditya Thackeray had announced Mumbai would be pothole-free by 2017. The Sena-ruled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has consistently been facing flak for the pathetic, potholed state of Mumbai’s roads with cases pending in the Bombay High Court.
On receiving this information on social media, Leader of the Opposition in the Council, Dhananjay Munde appreciated Aditya for identifying the first pothole. He tweeted by tagging the Minister for Public Works Department, Chandrakant Patil, “Honourable Patil, look at the state of all the roads in the state.
Come identify a pothole and win a prize of Rs 1,000 and send this to your alliance partner, the Shiv Sena and Aditya Thackeray. Hope at least now, the government opens its eyes to the plight of the public.”
The PWD minister has issued a new deadline to make the roads of the state pothole-free December 2018. Patil had tweeted this announcement on August 23. Ironically, he asked contractors to begin road projects across the state that were sanctioned a year ago. “Have issued orders to PWD officials and contractors to begin all the projects that were sanctioned in 2017 state budget. At the same time, have issued orders to contractors to follow a schedule and complete pothole filling projects on time.”
He further issued a warning to contractors saying if they delayed these projects, action would be taken against them.
On road to Nashik, Yuva Sena president’s car runs into pothole, suffers tyre burst
Send ‘grand’ prize to Aditya Thackeray for identifying first pothole, says NCP