"We have made several representations to our councillor, deputy commissioner of South Zone and other senior officials but nothing has happened so far. It was then that we decided to fix the potholes ourselves ,'' said Dr Pushpa Dass Sota, president of Triveni Apartments Welfare Association (TAWA).

This could very well be the story of many colonies across Delhi. Roads are riddled with potholes and even arterial roads are in a mess. Instead of fixing the problem, civic agencies and Delhi government are busy passing the buck. For years, the corporation cited shortage of funds, multiplicity of agencies involved in road-cutting for various projects and Delhi Jal Board's leaking pipelines and poor drainage system as prime reasons for the bad roads. Now there are three civic bodies and Delhi government's PWD department has taken over roads that are 60-foot wide or wider, but the blame game has not stopped.

People are now hoping that with the assembly elections just eight months away, there will be a roadmaking spree in the last few months with an eye on votes. This year the BJP-led corporations have allotted an additional Rs 1 crore to each of the 272 wards. This, interestingly, includes Rs 50 lakh for repair and maintenance of roads.

Funds and projects

After the municipal corporation was trifurcated, the fledgling civic bodies began looking for ways to boost their revenue. While the South Corporation is trying to recover property tax dues and widening its tax net, civic amenities are languishing. Despite surplus funds, the corporation has been able to spend only half the amount earmarked for strengthening of roads, say sources. It had launched a "facelift drive" in June last year for development and maintenance work in the wards. Similarly , in October, it launched another scheme under which one ward in each zone was to be developed as a model ward. At the ground level, not much work is visible.

Similarly, the cash-strapped North Corporation has been able to spend only Rs 34.50 crore on strengthening of roads out of an outlay of Rs 120 crore given by Delhi government. Since its inception, just 16 new road projects have been sanctioned.

In East, officials say road projects worth Rs 390 crore are being executed . "There are over 12 road projects and road strengthening work as well in the pipeline. However, there are other agencies like Yamuna Vikas Board and JNNURM involved in these projects. The corporation mainly carries out road repair work. In the past one year, road repairs worth Rs 45 crore have been carried out," said SS Yadav, Commissioner, East Corporation.

Routine maintenance

Though the corporations have a special fund for maintenance, the work is not done on a routine basis. "The road outside our apartment was repaired last year. But what started as a pothole has now expanded to a stretch of almost 100m now. I fail to understand why they can't just repair the potholes and have to wait for the entire road to unravel. It's sheer wastage of funds," said Sachin Gupta, general secreatry, Shivalik Apartments RWA, Patparganj. Believe it or not, there are just two machines - one for hot compress and the other for cold compress - to fix potholes between three corporations ! "It is difficult to get the machines. If we don't get them, 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 in-charge of maintenance work.

"In 2004, we prepared a maintenance plan for the roads and the corporations have to implement them. We had pointed out some preventive measures like repair work and new techniques but we aren't the implementing agency," said PK Jain, chief scientist, Central Road Research Institute.

Officials say they can't do much if they don't have the equipment and also pass on the buck to the contractor who is responsible for maintenance . "For the entire city, there is only one hot and one cold machine for repairs. If the job is more than repairing a pothole, it is the contractor's responsibility," said SS Yadav, Commissioner, East Delhi Municipal Corporation. Residents, however, are in no mood to listen to excuses. "The official in charge of the area should be penalized for not repairing potholes and maintaining quality of roads. It's a shame that the roads are in such a pathetic condition in the national capital. Pankha Road is a case in point. I get stuck in a jam there for almost 45 minutes to an hour,'' said Shweta Saxena, who has to travel to Uttam Nagar from Lajpat Nagar every alternate day.

Though the civic agencies get the quality of material and the work done by contractors tested at government laboratories, they apparently don't maintain a centralized list of samples which have failed the test and record of penalty imposed on a contractor.

Blame game between civic agencies and PWD

The road leading to PVR Saket is in urgent need of repair. It is worn out at several places and causes traffic jams during peak hours. "After elections , we couldn't get it repaired as the road has been transferred to PWD,'' said area councillor Anita.

Delhi government's decision to take over MCD 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 repair the stretches as the roads have been transferred, PWD claims that 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. Rest of the roads will be taken up in a phased manner,'' said Deepak Panwar , spokesperson, PWD.