Youngsters keep track of bad roads

Complaining about bad roads is something we do everyday. But there are some who choose not to remain mute spectators, reports Neelam Pandey.

Complaining about bad roads is something we do everyday. But there are some who choose not to remain mute spectators.

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The Delhi Roads Improvement Club (DRIC) is one such initiative of young Delhiites out to make a difference. The club was formed in 2005, but started to disintegrate after sometime. It is now back and all set to make its presence felt again.

“I got a call from some of the members of the group who were quite perturbed by the bad roads. We had not met for nearly a year. But now we are going to spring back into action. To start with, we will get some of the major roads inspected that require immediate attention,” said Uday Gosain, the founder of the club.

The club was formed to keep track of whether the roads in their area were laid according to the required specifications or not.

Gosain, who used to take the outer Ring Road, was surprised to see the stretch from Panchsheel to Chirag Delhi in south Delhi chipping off 20 days after it was re-laid.

“Taxpayers’ money was spent so I wanted to know why such weak construction was being carried out,” he said.

Gosain, who used to travel nearly 64 kilometres from his Vasant Kunj home to Noida and back, filed an RTI application. The result: the road was reconstructed. “I had filed an RTI application in February 2005 with the PWD. The same afternoon, I received a call from them and the entire stretch from Panchsheel to Chirag Delhi was resurfaced,” said Gosain.

This activist has a degree in telecom engineering and currently works for Global Logic. The other members of the club are mostly law student volunteers.

The DRIC is funded entirely by its 25 members. “We have a tool in our hand to get information from the civic agencies and we need to use it wisely. Roads are the backbone of a society and there is a greater need to pay attention to them,” added Gosain.