Thane roads remain riddled with potholes, complain motorists

THANE: Nearly a week after chief minister Eknath Shinde directed government agencies to ensure smooth roads and uninterrupted rides for motorists, the situation is far from normal as commuters continue to endure delays due to bad roads.
Following the death of a biker last week, Shinde had called for an urgent meeting of all road repair and construction agencies and instructed them to ensure the roads were pothole free and any damages were repaired instantly. Agencies undertaking road repair works claimed they were trying to do their best to avoid the damages and blamed heavy traffic and incessant rains for the same. However, motorists have complained that several road stretches including the arterial highways cutting through the city were in a bad state. While three stretches of Mumbra bypass road saw damages to the surfaces, the Kasheli and Saket stretches on the Mumbai Nashik highway remained one of the worst affected. The Ghodbunder stretches including the one on the Thane lane near Vihang’s Inn also saw potholes complained motorists.
NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad who was also affected by the bad roads in Thane undertook a survey of the Mumbra bypass road on Monday late and urged the authorities to take corrective action at the earliest.
Thane collector Rajesh Narvekar, who also heads the task force dedicated for overseeing the road repair works addresed a joint virtual meeting of all agencies and corporations in Thane district, late Friday, and directed them to repair the roads using latest technology. "July has seen heavy rains and many road stretches have been damaged. I have instructed agencies to repair the areas within their jurisdictions in time. We will take a review of the works next week," he said.