No relief from bad roads till Dec-Jan

October 8, 2013

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Anjaya Anparthi, TNN |

NAGPUR: The citizens will have to continue facing potholes and bad roads till December or even January. Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) standing committee chairman Avinash Thakre on Monday accepted that his plans to asphalt all roads by Diwali had failed but blamed the administration for delay.The standing committee in its meeting on Monday okayed Rs 30.35 crore for repairing 63 city roads. Thakre said it would take at least 63 days for issuing work orders to the private contractors. “Tendering process will be started followed by zeroing in on qualified contractors. Then the proposals to seek approval for issuing the work orders will come before the standing committee followed by issuing work orders. The contractors will start work after completing formalities. Therefore, the works may start only by December,” he said.

Tbout pending road works worth Rs 70 crore, Thakre said the standing committee was yet to receive the proposals for administrative approval. “These works are of interior roads. I will talk about them only after receiving the proposals,” he said. NMC sources said works on remaining roads will be delayed even more. “They will start only by January 2014,” they said.

Thakre blamed municipal commissioner Shyam Wardhane for latter’s failure to pursue the proposals. “Proposals could come for approval on Monday only due to initiative taken by me. I inspected all roads personally and pursued the proposals. Why civic chief could not ensure that proposals came for approval in time,” he asked.

Thakre also came down heavily on the state government for not sanctioning funds for repairing damage caused by floods. “Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan announced Rs 100 crore compensation for damage to roads and other infrastructure. We are still waiting for the funds. I think the CM is just busy cutting ribbons,” he said.

About contractors refusing to repair roads under defect liability period, Thakre said six roads under defect liability period got damaged. “I have given clear directives to the administration to get the work done from respective contractors. No relaxation will be given on the ground of heavy rains,” he said. He added that approval was also given to other works related to roads like repairing of road-dividers, construction of storm water drains etc.

About financial loss due to delay in Rahatekarwadi bridge, Thakre said, “NMC will bear additional expense due to increase in scope of works. It was engineers and consultant did not prepare the proposal properly. Action will be taken against those responsible,” he said.

Thakre also announced a medical insurance scheme for the poor and said 12,722 families would benefit by it. “Medical assistance of Rs 30,000 and life insurance of Rs 25,000 will be provided. There are 98,696 BPL families in the city. More families will be covered under the scheme if applications come in,” he said.

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com