'Seal potholes or lose deposit'

Contractors maintaining city roads, which are under the defect liability period, now face the risk of losing their security deposit amount, if they don't repair the potholes in time.

Rough ride: The study carried out by local bodies reveal that out of 396 potholes on minor roads in the city, only 45 had been sealed yet by contractors.u00a0File pic

After facing several complaints about the crater-riddled roads, the civic body did a study of minor roads, whose findings showed that out of 396 potholes in all 24 wards, only 45 had been filled whereas 351 still existed on minor roads. The civic body stated that this time, if potholes were formed on roads that were still under the guarantee period, then the contractor responsible for the road would have to repair it.

Aseem Gupta, the additional municipal commissioner, said, "It is a serious issue and we have decided to take action against the contractors. If the contractor fails to fill the potholes that have emerged during the defect liability period, we will not release the security deposit amount."

Around 21,346 potholes have been reported since June on major roads, of which 17,860 have been filled and 876 remain. These potholes have been tracked by Probity Software, which has been appointed by the civic body to detect and track potholes in the city. Girdhari Agarwal, chief engineer (roads) said, "We are trying to fill all the potholes and all the roads will be smooth and done by the time of Ganesh Chaturthi."

BMC had spent Rs 40 crore for pre-monsoon work on the roads. However, the work was not complete and the cost of repairing the roads has now increased to Rs 56 crore. u00a0