Pune: Corporators spoke about the poor condition of city roads during Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)’s general body meeting on Tuesday. They said the situation was leading to accidents and hampering overall traffic flow.Elected representatives mentioned Monday’s fatal accident in Mhalunge and other such mishaps occurring due to bad city roads. They said citizens expected better roads that would help reduce traffic congestion and also keep a check on pollution caused by vehicles. The administration should take safety measures and repair surfaces on a continuous basis, they said.Congress corporator Sunil Shinde said daily commute was troublesome for citizens because of washed-out stretches. “A boy lost his life on a pothole-ridden road on Monday in Mhalunge. It is not an isolated case. The city has reported similar accidents in the recent past. The administration should take serious cognisance and plan repairs on a continuous basis,” he said.BJP corporator Ajay Khedekar said many elected representatives had expressed concerns over accidents and risky road rides. “PMC should fix responsibility and ensure roads are repaired on priority.”BJP corporator Ravindra Salegaonkar said fatalities owing to poor road conditions were not acceptable. “Local civic engineers attached to the road department should visit their areas and take up repairs at the earliest,” he added.BJP-NCP spar over allocation of fundsBJP and NCP leaders got into an argument during PMC’s general body meeting on Tuesday over a proposal that allocation of funds to a ward represented by NCP corporator Amol Balwadkar be rejected.Balwadkar and other NCP members raised an objection, which BJP members defeated by a majority in a vote.Initially, leader of the house Ganesh Bidkar appealed to NCP corporators to not object claiming that both parties were working together in the state cabinet. Voting was held after he failed to get a response.“Cancellation of allocation of funds is unfortunate. The move is part of a political conspiracy,” alleged Balwadkar, who had joined NCP from BJP before the civic polls. During the state assembly polls, he had demanded a ticket from Kothrud constituency represented by state cabinet minister Chandrakant Patil.
