The Times of India  20.08.2010

Heavy downpour exposes poor quality, maintenance of city roads

JAIPUR: After the heavy downpour in the city on Wednesday the civic agencies are now taking stock of road condition. At most of the places the roads have developed potholes, which is not unusual for the city roads even after a brief spell of rain. The showers in the past 24 hours have further exposed the quality and maintenance of the city roads.

On Thursday TOI found that almost all the major and internal roads need urgent carpeting. Station Road, Khasa Kothi, SMS Road, Adarsh Nagar, Statue Circle, Trimurti Circle, Collectorate Circle along with the entire Walled City have developed pits and potholes with pebbles scattered around.

Roads leading to Civil Lines, C-Scheme, Ajmer Road, Jamuna Nagar, Prahlad Nagar, Jamuna Dairy from Sodala have been badly damaged due to waterlogging in the past one month. Wednesday's showers have only worsened the condition. It has raised many eyebrows about the quality of work executed by the civic agency.

Abhay Kumawat, an Ajmer Road resident, said that some of the main roads were carpeted just a few months ago. "See, they could not withstand even a few showers," he added.

A fortnight ago even the JDA commissioner had accepted the quality of roads has been compromised with. He had suspended a few engineers on this issue, however, this has not made much difference. Similar action is being contemplated by the Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) as the top brass has warned officials against any lapses on their part.

TOI found that roads along Ajmer Road, Jhotwara, Civil Lines, Bais Godaam and Tonk Road have not been maintained as per standard. An official on the location of road restoration site near Trimurti Circle said the quality of patch work and filling of pot holes could not be compared to full-fledged carpeting. All these efforts mean a longer wait for the citizens before they can have a smooth ride on the city roads.

The roads in the Walled City are the worst affected as they are located at low-lying area and the water collects for several hours even after short spell of rain. Roads leading to places like Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar, Johari Bazaar, Sanganeri Gate, M I Road, Chandpol, Ghat Gate etc are in bad shape.