Prabhat Road residents oppose concreting plan, PMC scraps it

PUNE: The civic administration has scrapped its plan to build a cement road on a 1.25km stretch between Law College and Deccan, following opposition from Prabhat Road residents, who said the move would have increased the height of the road, allowing rainwater to gush inside the properties during the monsoon.
The residents had also argued that concrete roads were difficult to dig, hampering civic works. The authorities have now opted for a tarred road, work on which will start on Wednesday.

PMC officials said concrete road was planned in view of frequent waterlogging on the stretch. "Tarred roads are susceptible to frequent damage, especially during the monsoon," an official said.
Senior PMC official Dinkar Gojare said "The water from nearby hillocks gets accumulated near Prabhat Road. The concrete road project aimed at resolving this issue."
"To tackle waterlogging, the authorities should put in place a good stormwater drainage system in the area," said Manoj Limaye, a Prabhat Road resident.
"The road concreting can cause a lot of heat-related issues. Good quality tar roads are performing fine across the world," said Dilip Ranadive, a resident of Bhandarkar Road.
Another resident Kedar Paranjpye said the road level should be maintained properly. "The concrete roads are not done properly. Only the height of the road is increasing. The level of the new road should be at least two-three inches less than the existing street level to prevent waterlogging," he said.
On their part, the civic officials said the road concreting was a part of a large-scale road repair and restoration project. The civic body had planned to spend Rs 5 crore on concreting the stretch on Prabhat Road.
MLA Siddharth Shirole in a tweet said, "Following the feedback from the residents and a thorough evaluation, I have instructed the administration to halt the concreting of Prabhat Road stretch and revert to using tar for construction."