Nagpur: Potholes resurface on most roads after continuous rain

NAGPUR: Potholes have resurfaced on several roads following incessant rains lashing Nagpur city. A senior official from Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) hotmix department told TOI that the continuous rains not only prevented repairs to potholes, but have also led to new potholes on roads repaired earlier.
Citing examples, he said the stretch near Manas Chowk, the patch beneath Dhantoli railway bridge, and the road near Mayo Hospital were repaired by the civic body earlier. Now, with water stagnating at these spots, potholes are back.
Team TOI too visited several areas and found that potholes repaired a fortnight or a month ago have started resurfacing. The stretch in front of Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Apartment at Zingabai Takli was repaired at least three times this monsoon. Now, once again potholes are back.
About a couple of thousand potholes on city roads were filled by NMC, state’s PWD and Nagpur Improvement Trust before Ganeshotsav. However, due to heavy rains continuously lashing the city, several big and small potholes have resurfaced on roads in several localities.
The road stretch in front of WCL headquarters in Civil Lines was repaired by the state’s public works department earlier this month. Now, they have started reappearing, as efforts of various road owning agencies are getting washed away.
An official said that on Thursday the department had planned to fix potholes at several places. “But the morning rain prevented us from starting the hotmix plant, hitting the road repair works,” he explained.
Every monsoon the city witnesses several potholes, however, this year number of potholes has increased manifold due to continuous rain, the official admitted.
The data obtained from NMC revealed that roads in Mangalwari zone are the worst. In this monsoon, the hotmix department has repaired 576 potholes or 9491.28 sq m road. This was followed by Lakadganj zone, where the department repaired 376 potholes. Roads under Nehru Nagar zone too are in bad shape, with the hotmix department repairing 384 potholes.
Even the condition of tar roads under Dhantoli zone is not good as NMC has so far attended to 379 potholes. Motorists have questioned why NMC is entrusting JetPatcher and InsttaPatcher firms to repair roads when their work is not durable.