t is through roads that the development of a city is measured. They are the index of the performance of the government. And Delhi roads, especially after the monsoon, are broken and riddled with potholes. One downpour and brown, uneven patches appear after the water recedes. But the city planners refuse to learn.
“It’s not even a year that this road was last laid,” said Kamlinder Singh, pointing to Jagdish Chandra Arora Marg in Chitra Vihar in east Delhi. “The top layer came off after the recent rain. It’s the same story every time it is constructed,” said the RWA member. Because of the way these are constructed and poor drainage - nothing has been done about it for years - rain is a road killer in the city.
Now, the Public Works Department (PWD) is reconstructing it and replacing the dark grey bitumen road with a cemented one, which is, at least, six inches, in height.
“Cemented roads last longer and are easy to repair,” said an engineer working at the site.
However, the residents aren’t too convinced. They said the rollers and road-constructing machines will be back within two years.
Experts say the reasons for erosion of the roads are water-logging, poor drainage, sub-standard materials, frequent digging, and bad maintenance. “We have so many times asked civic agencies such as the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and IGL to submit their annual plans, but haven’t received any,” said a senior PWD official. “Problem is with the drainage.”
As per the DJB’s own figures, half of Delhi isn’t connected to the sewerage;1,535 regularised colonies have no sewer network; and 81 per cent of the total rural villages have no sewer lines.
The Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), almost a decade ago, prepared a maintenance plan for the Delhi roads, but due to the multiplicity of authorities it couldn’t be taken up. “We can only give them technical advice,” said an official with the CRRI.
When engineers were asked about the sub-standard quality of the roads, they said the PWD, in fact, has three levels of quality check. “We check the material, strength of the road, and durability, but constant road-cutting reduces the life span.”
However, this time the PWD has decided to use cold milling technology (CMT) to repair/reconstruct a road in the city.
The CMT is the process of removing the surface of the road and it removes just enough thickness to level and smooth the surface compared to a full depth removal.
But engineers with the civic body aren’t optimistic about the decision. “It is difficult to use this technique as traffic has to be closed on the road,” said the PWD engineer. “Honestly, it isn’t feasible as we don’t have the infrastructure to divert the traffic.”
PWD officials also blame the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and the municipal corporations for the bad conditions of the roads. They said wherever the DMRC takes up the work, it is their responsibility to maintain the road. “
At present, 70 per cent of the complaints we have received of bad roads is from those stretches where the Metro has either just finished the work or it is doing. They don’t maintain those well.”
The Delhi government in its maiden budget hasn’t taken up any new development project and its focus is entirely on the roads and finishing old projects. So Delhi can hope for good roads.
“We check the material, strength of
the road, and durability, but constant road-cutting reduces the life span
