95% of potholes repaired in Vizag

Visakhapatnam: About 95 per cent of the potholes in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) have been repaired till date, officials have claimed.

A public programme was organised by the civic body here on Thursday to showcase the recent road repair works. It covered all the eight zones and there was a display of the photos of the affected areas, before and after the repairs.

GVMC chief engineer Ravikrishnamraju said 5451 potholes for repair had been identified since January. Of these, 5176 potholes have been repaired at a cost of Rs 8.5 crore. The amount spent on the works came from the general funds of the corporation.

"This will be a continuous process. We are identifying the potholes and repairing them. We will complete the work on the remaining potholes in the next three days. The photo exhibition of our work in each zone will continue till July 24," Raju told Deccan Chronicle.

Raju said the work was delayed due to pre-monsoon rains and thundershowers since May. Each repair job is now uploaded on a separate digital platform to enable the public to view and share their views.

Citizens say this was fine but the quality of the patch works should be maintained. Roads hereafter should not remain damaged for weeks and months. This problem arose due mainly to the use of inferior quality materials and poorly done contract works, they pointed out.

Underground cable works in many areas are also causing inconvenience to the people due to non-compliance of certain regulations, like improper handling of soil and garbage.

“People also dump sand and construction materials on the road. Officials are not taking punitive action. The roads are getting damaged due to these works too," said Srilakshmi of Sivajipalem.