Amid complaints from residents about appalling state of roads, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has initiated a process to carry out a third-party audit of construction quality of 640 roads identified under the Defect Liability Period (DLP).
According to officials, PMC has in the first phase collected information about roads that come under DLP. The DLP is the clause in the contract where a contractor can be held responsible for the deterioration of the quality of the roads during a specific period — normally three years.
These roads are mostly located in nine wards of PMC including Aundh-Baner, Shivajinagar-Ghole road, Kothrud-Bavdhan, Warje-Karvenagar, Hadapsar-Mundhwa, Wanowrie-Ramtekadi, Kondhwa-Yeolewadi, Kasba-Vishraumbaug and Bibwewadi.
The ward offices have already begun issuing notices to contractors for faulty or pothole-ridden roads.
“Some ward offices have given us the list of roads under their jurisdiction. We are now going ahead with a third-party audit inspection to check construction quality of roads. Once such work has been identified, the contractor will be fined for it. The inspection process will start soon,” said VG Kulkarni, head of road department, PMC.
Earlier, the road department had made a list of 139 main roads in Pune of which 45 were inspected. In that inspection, 11 roads were found with potholes for which notices were served to 11 contractors. These contractors were issued a fine of ₹5,000 for each square metre of potholes.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, the road department had made a list of 139 main roads in Pune of which 45 were inspected. In that inspection, 11 roads were found with potholes for which notices were served to 11 contractors. These contractors were issued a fine of ₹5,000 for each square metre of potholes.
{{/usCountry}}Dinkar Gojare, superintendent engineer of the PMC’s road department, said, most roads identified by PMC have potholes.
“The inspection will let us know if inferior quality work was carried out by contractors,” he said.
Officials said, so far, three of the 11 contractors have paid a fine of ₹5 lakh. PMC administration said action has mainly been taken against road contractors who have built roads in Katraj from near Nancy Colony to Padmja park areas, Kalubai temple in Dhayari, Parvati Paytha, PMC school areas in Mohammadwadi and Sus-Mhanlunge road.
PMC has claimed that it has so far repaired more than 5,000 potholes for which the civic body spent over Rs2.5 crores. The civic body is now in the process of recovering the amount from contractors.
Road work under scanner
Ward office==Roads identified under DLP
Aundh-Baner: 93
Shivajinagar-Ghole road: 11
Kothrud-Bavdhan: 81
Warje-Karvenagar: 150
Hadapsar-Mundhwa: 58
Wanowrie-Ramtekadi: 68
Kondhwa-Yeolewadi: 110
Kasba-Vishraumbaug: 51
Bibwewadi: 18
(Source: PMC)