Thane: Despite a written allocation of Rs 183 crore, work on 127 roads not yet begun

Thane: Whether it is because of the poor roads in Thane city or innocent motorists who are the victims due to the potholes during monsoons, the citizens have to face traffic jams for hours or spine problems caused to motorists due to potholes, or sometimes ambulances have to exercise while transporting patients; these bad roads directly affect the daily lives of Thanekars. It is seen that the administration is still not serious about repairing or constructing roads even after seven people died due to potholes in Thane.

Swapnil Mahindrakar, city president of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Public Interest Legislation Department, has disclosed through RTI that despite the sanction of 183 crores three months ago, most of the road works on 127 roads in the city have not yet started. Also, because the contractor is entitled to use subcontractors in the said work, it is predicted that the quality of road work will suffer.

Mahindrakar said, "Due to bad roads, the people of Thane will have to welcome Ganpati Bappa, who is coming in just a week, through this potholed road."

The roads of a city tell the development of that city, but looking at the bad condition of the roads in Thane, the picture is that even with the chief minister of Thane, the problem of potholed roads in the city is still not solved.

Mahindrakar said, "In order to improve the condition of the roads in Thane, a fund of 183 crores has been given to the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) on behalf of the Urban Development Department when Eknath Shinde was urban development minister in the MVA government. The construction of important roads in Thane was taken up under this fund. Tenders were floated for cement concrete, asphalting, and Ultra-Thin White Topping (UTWT) road construction. Out of 127 roads in Thane, 84 roads will be UTWT, 12 roads will be cement concrete, and 34 roads will be asphalted. This includes roads on flyovers as well. For this, an order has also been given to the concerned contractor in June 2022. But the shocking thing about this is that this entire work will be done through only two contractors, and since the contractor is entitled to give his work to another contractor, i.e., subcontract in the tender, there is a high possibility that the quality of the work will suffer.

Meanwhile, Rs 71,944,86084 for asphalting work, Rs 81,244,61768 for UTWT, and Rs 30,80,56487 for cement concrete roads will be spent on the roads on behalf of the TMC.

Swapnil Mahindrakar said, "For the last four months, Thanekars have had to find a way out of the potholes. Even when there are incidents of loss of lives due to potholes, the administration does not wake up. However, the work on all these roads should be completed quickly to make Thane a pothole-free city, and if this is not done, the MNS will be carrying out a unique protest ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi on August 31 in front of TMC headquarters."

Even after several attempts, TMC commissioner Dr. Vipin Sharma was unavailable for comments.