Pune: Drop in complaints, but citizens still suffer

PUNE: The pothole helpline, which was flooded with complaints last month during days of heavy showers, has seen a drastic drop in calls.
On an average, around 150 calls reached the helpline daily in July. It has been reduced to an average of 40 calls now.
Even though the number of complaints has gone down, citizens continue to suffer due to bad roads. They have demanded better roads and speeding up of repairs as rainfall has receded. The PMC officials said that they have deployed extra staff for road restoration. "I have complained about poor quality of road repairs. I had shared the pictures with the civic administration on the WhatsApp number for citizen complaints but to no avail," said Ajit Bhandari, a banker.
The PMC claimed that over 11,000 potholes were repaired in the last three months. "The PMC has formed teams to visit locations from where complaints regarding bad roads have come. Road work is going on continuously," said V G Kulkarni, head of the PMC's road department.
Another citizen, Vinit Navale, highlighted the pathetic road condition near VIIT college. "The road was repaired, but improperly," he said.
"It is quite evident from the pathetic condition of roads that the PMC has not taken road development and road maintenance committee recommendations seriously. It is imperative that the PMC implement them effectively," said Prashant Inamdar of Pedestrians First, an organisation working for road safety.