NEW DELHI: If there is one thing that tells you the story about the state of governance in the city, it's the condition of its roads. It's an index of the performance of the people who run the city. Those who bring out the road rollers when the elections are round the corner to put the pitch over your eyes, to make you forget years of bumpy rides and shredded tyres. Just enough pitch to last till the ballots are cast.
It's election time again and MLAs and corporators are busy drawing up a roadmap to build, relay and repair roads which, despite complaints from residents, never got their attention . Many roads - particularly those within colonies - had begun to wear off within months of being built because of poor material and construction. Many roads were repeatedly dug up by different agencies but never repaired despite the corporations collecting road restoration charges. There are unfinished projects that have been in the limbo for years without anyone caring to do anything about it. Contractors are rarely penalized and blacklisted and the story has not changed for years.
"It's been just about seven months that this road was made," says LK Lakhwani in dismay, pointing to Jagdish Chandra Arora Marg in Chitra Vihar in east Delhi. "The top layer is coming off - it's the same story every time it is constructed ," says the RWA member. Because of the way they are constructed and poor drainage - nothing has been done about it for years - rain is a sure road killer in the city. "Recently , a road was constructed near Pamposh Enclave and the top layer is gradually coming off. But, of course, if the roads are in good shape, how will they (officials and politicians) make money?" asks BK Sabharwal, a resident of the colony. Why can't the civic authorities give durable roads despite having undertaken many foreign jaunts on this issue? Experts say the reasons for erosion are waterlogging, poor drainage, sub-standard materials, frequent digging and bad maintenance . "In fact, in 2004 we had prepared a maintenance plan for the roads, but we can only give technical advice and the corporations are the implementing agency. We had pointed out some preventive measures like repairs and new techniques but nothing was implemented," said PK Jain, chief scientist, Central Road Research Institute. Besides lack of will, multiplicity of authorities and a blame game comes in the way of the work. The corporations, public works depar tment and flood and irrigation department are handling the drainage system in the city. "Till the time only one agency is made responsible, waterlogging will persist. The small drains are with the corporations and the big ones with PWD and the flood and irrigation department. There is no coordination between them. Moreover, PWD and the flood and irrigation department are with the state government , led by the Congress, while the corporations are with the BJP. A blame game is unavoidable," said YS Mann, spokesperson for North and East corporations.
The Delhi government's decision to take over the corporation roads has just added to the confusion.
Now, the civic agencies and PWD keep passing the buck. While the civic agencies say they can't carry out repair work as the roads have been transferred, PWD claims the roads need dense-carpeting and patchwork won't work. "The roads were in a very bad condition. We have to relay the roads and the work has already started. We have placed orders for close to 200 roads and the rest will be taken up in phases,'' said a PWD spokesperson.
Why can't potholes be fixed sooner rather than repair the entire stretch? Though the corporations have a special fund for maintenance, work is not done on a routine basis. There are just two machines - hot compress and cold compress - to fix potholes between three corporations . "Since it is difficult to get the machine, we try to do it manually but it is not very effective as the bitumen has to be compressed. It often comes off soon after the work is done,'' said an official.
How to make contractors, politicians and officials in-charge accountable? "A penalty should be imposed on the official in-charge of the area for not repairing potholes and maintaining roads. It is a shame that the roads are in such a pathetic condition,'' said Sameer Bhagat, joint secretary, Vasant Vihar RWA.
Though the civic agencies get the quality of material and the work done by contractors tested at government laboratories, they don't maintain a centralized list of samples which have failed the test and the penalty imposed on a contractor.
"There is no shortage of funds; then why are they not spending on road repair? First, there is massive delay in sanctioning projects and then the quality of work done is shoddy. Potholes resurface within days after the repair work is done. Also, often the road is not levelled after the pothole is filled with bitumen ," said Keshav Aggarwal, a resident of Chittaranjan Park.
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