Must find out why roads damaged: Civic body boss

Hyderabad: Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation commissioner Somesh Kumar said it makes no sense to repair and re-carpet roads with bitumen without knowing the reasons why the roads are getting damaged so frequently.

Responding to the uproar by corporators over the bad condition of roads in the city during the general body meeting on Saturday, Somesh Kumar said the damaged portions of the roads are being identified and photographed.

“The money spent on road repairs will go waste if the roads are damaged again and the cause for this is not ascertained and rectified.” He added that accountability is also being fixed on engineers who have been made responsible for certain specified stretches of roads and their maintenance.

The commissioner said he had short-term, medium-term and long-term plans to improve the condition of city roads and appealed to the corporators to cooperate in the plans.

As part of the short-term plan, Rs 50 lakh will be spent in each of the 150 wards in the city for repair of potholes. “Tenders will be finalised by December-end, and all roads will be repaired properly by January-end by spending Rs 12 crore.

The long term plan involves laying of cement-concrete roads costing an estimated Rs 316.62 crore, in a phased manner. So far, 79 roads that get damaged frequently have been identified to be covered under the long-term plan,” he said.