Pune: Vehicle users and pedestrians across the city continue to struggle with pothole-riddled and dug-up roads, leading to major congestion and frustration. But alongside, the civic administration has released data about repairs it has carried out over the last month, claiming to have fixed total damaged road surface area of 16,539 sq m across 16 ward divisions.The work was carried out between July 7 and Aug 6 this year by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) road department, in coordination with regional ward offices.As per this official data, the Dhankawadi-Ambegaon-Katraj ward area recorded the highest volume of pothole and road repairs, with 2,792 sq m covered, comprising 1,542 sq m of hot-mix asphalt patching, 637 sq m of cold-mix repairs, and 613 sq m of surfacing using murrum and granular sub-base (GSB) materials.Conversely, Kasba ward recorded the lowest work, at just 100 sq m, executed entirely using cold-mix asphalt bags.Sinhagad Road came in close in second place, with repairs over 2,458 sq m, driven predominantly by 2,120 sq m of hot-mix asphalt plant work. Other high pothole-filled road zones included Yerawada-Wadgaonsheri with 1,830 sq m, Aundh-Baner with 1,827 sq m, and Cantonment limits with 1,724 sq m of restored road surfaces.Wanworie registered 1,194 sq m, Hadapsar-Manjari logged 1,025 sq m, and Kondhwa-Undri covered 863 sq m. Further down the list, Bibvewadi recorded 551 sq m, while both Kothrud-Bavdhan and Warje-Karvenagar registered 533 sq m each.Data added that Dhole Patil Road logged 356 sq m, Nagar Road-Wagholi 310 sq m, Shivajinagar-Ghole Road registered 230 sq m. In contrast, central and core city areas required significantly lower repair volumes. Vishrambaugwada ward saw 133 sq m of repairs, while Kasba came in lowest on the list.Citizens pointed out that despite these declared efforts, PMC still seems to have fallen quite short of its goal, with traffic snarls still rife and many roads still presenting a risk to users.“The ground-level situation is far worse than what PMC claims. This data appears to be an eye-wash. Stringent action should be carried out against the officials concerned,” said Vivek Velankar of Sajag Nagrik Manch, a citizens’ group.Katraj resident Rucha Joshi said commuters are already suffering due to delayed work on Katraj-Kondhwa Road, with potholes only adding to the mess. “The civic body should ensure that taxpayers do not suffer this way. Many spots in our areas have become accident-prone. Potholes are leading to mishaps and threatening lives. Good quality road repairs are a must,” she said.Across all repair methods employed citywide by PMC, hot-mix asphalt plant patching remained the primary mechanism, accounting for 11,446 sq m or nearly 70% of all works. Cold-mix asphalt patching covered 2,530 sq m, murrum and GSB surfacing 2,454 sq m, and paving block repairs addressed the remaining 109 sq m.PMC officials said they are carrying out road repairs in a decentralised manner. Road department head Rajesh Bankar told TOI, “Road department teams and ward offices work at the ground level to repair potholes. Citizens’ complaints are addressed as soon as possible.”
