Maharashtra committee raps government for poor state of Mumbai’s Sion-Panvel highway

The Maharashtra legislature’s public accounts committee said it was Mumbai commuters who were suffering on account of the poor state of roads

The state legislature’s public accounts committee (PAC) has rapped the Maharashtra government for the inferior quality of its construction and lack of maintenance on the Sion-Panvel highway.

The committee said government has failed to curb the practice of using shoddy materials to construct roads and the negligence of officials in charge of maintaining them. (Photo for representation)

The committee said thousands of commuters were being inconvenienced daily, owing to the road’s shoddy state.

The committee said the government has failed to curb the use of shoddy materials in road construction and crack down on negligent officials in charge of maintaining them. It said this has become common across the state and is causing people to suffer.

The committee recommended the government counter this by clearly stating provisions in tenders and setting up a monitoring system.

It added that the government must conduct a third-party audit, seeking help from institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology, when the project is handed over to the state after being completed by the contractor.

The committee was discussing a report tabled in both houses of the state legislature by senior Congress legislator and PAC chairman Gopaldas Agrawal.

“Potholes surface on the road every monsoon. Contractors charge toll, but do not maintain the road. It is the common man who suffers,” the report added.

The anti-corruption bureau is currently looking into allegations that tenders for the Kharghar toll plaza on the Sion-Panvel highway were awarded in unfairly.

The ACB is probing claims that the state favoured one of the eight contractors.

The committee asked the ACB to submit a report in three months, explaining the status of its probe and what action has been taken so far. The committee also suggested that the government take action against the officers responsible for delays in punishing the guilty. It sought a report in three months.