Hyderabad: Vigilance to inspect road repair works

Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will henceforth take up road repair work under the supervision of its vigilance teams to prevent the corrupt practices that are resulting in roads getting damaged easily and soon after being constructed.  

The GHMC is setting out to repair 972 stretches of road which were severely damaged by rains this year, at a cost of Rs 50 crore. The repairs to these stretches of road will be assessed regularly by quality-check engineers.

Though these rough patches are often found in by-lanes, many are also near city flyovers, which directly discharge water onto the roads underneath. The unscientific method of constructing roads by the civic body has meant that huge amounts of tax payers’ money are spent on repairing them after or during every monsoon.

According to highly placed sources, the corporation has already sanctioned another Rs 5 crore to fill about 4,000 potholes.

Sources said that even though the 972 patches identified will be repaired using high quality bitumen and advanced technologies like Vacuum Dewatered Cement Concrete (VDCC) it should not cost more than Rs 30 core, though Rs 50 crore has been sanctioned for the purpose.

Suspecting corruption by those involved, the corporation has decided that vigilance staff will inspect the quality and quantity of bitumen used during road repairs so that there is some accountability.

Sources also said that the corporation annually spends about Rs 100 crore to fill potholes and repair craters on roads located near flyovers, as these roads do not have channels through which rain water can be discharged into storm water drains.

Rather than addressing these small but important matters, the corporation wastes tax payers’ money on grand schemes.

A senior GHMC official said on condition of anonymity that GHMC commissioner M. Dana Kishore has asked the vigilance wing to supervise the engineering wing during the road repairs costing Rs 50 crore. Asked whether Rs 50 crore will be sufficient to repair the 972 rough patches, the official said that the corporation has asked the field level staff to prepare circle wise estimates prior to carrying out the repairs.

The official said that the corporation would only restrict the execution to Rs 30 crore.

When asked what is being done about roads adjacent to flyovers and are damaged due to the unscientific storm water disposal system, the official said that the this would be rectified by November this year, once the ban on cutting up roads is lifted and the storm water pipes can be channelised to drains or rain water harvesting pits.