Corporators slam Thane civic body over ‘fancy’ repairs for potholes

The Thane Municipal Corporation has invested in a jet patching machine and used techniques such as cold mix, hot mix and some other concrete mixes to fill potholes in the city.

The “fancy pothole-filling techniques” used by the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) have not yielded any results despite spending crores of rupees, claimed corporators in the standing committee meeting on Monday.

Pothole-ridden roads have led to two deaths this year. (Photo: Hindustan Times)

The TMC has invested in a jet patching machine and used techniques such as cold mix, hot mix and some other concrete mixes to fill potholes in the city. Apart from leading to congestion every day, the pothole-ridden roads have led to two deaths this year.

The standing committee alleged that the contractors and agencies selling these techniques have only duped the corporation for years as potholes in the city have not reduced. The committee slammed TMC for the bad roads and cited lack of planning, substandard work and no hold over the contractors as some reasons.

Standing committee chairman Ram Repale said the TMC should not clear the bills of contractors who have carried out substandard repairs or filling work in the city. Leader of the house, Naresh Mhaske, said, “TMC has spent crores on repairing potholes using various fancy techniques, but potholes have comes back within hours. The standing committee’s approval is also not taken for such repair works.”

The BJP also staged a protest outside TMC headquarters. Civic engineer Ravindra Khadtale admitted that there are potholes on most roads. “In 15 days, Thane received more than 900mm rain. No technique in the world will work in such heavy rain,” he said.