Mumbai concrete road works will be of top quality, IAS officer to oversee them

Industries Minister Uday Samant on Tuesday assured the legislative council that The Maharashtra government is committed to ensuring that no concrete road work in Mumbai is of substandard qualityAs per PTI he stated that a senior bureaucrat has been assigned to oversee the coordination of road concretization projects in Mumbai ensuring their execution while maintaining topquality standards and safety protocolsHis response came in reply to a starred question raised by BJP MLC Prasad LadUnlike unstarred questions which receive written responses from ministers starred questions require oral answers on the floor of the HouseTo ensure proper coordination of all road concretization projects in Mumbai a decision has been taken to appoint an IAS officer This officer will be responsible for overseeing the quality and progress of the work Samant notedThe decision was taken during a meeting held under the chairmanship of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde who holds urban development and public works state enterprises portfolios on MondayAddressing opposition criticism over the exclusion of council members from the meeting the minister confirmed that a separate meet with MLCs would be convened soon as per PTIShoddy work Newly built Aarey roads in Mumbai already falling apartAt one spot concrete surface has started peeling off residents fear that it might get washed away during the monsoon seasonIts not only cement concrete CC stretches built by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC that are developing cracksmdashthe surface of a CC road made by the public works department PWD less than six months ago in Aarey Milk Colony has also begun to fissureAt one location the surface has started peeling off The PWD is repairing internal roads measuring 45 km in the colony and as part of this some sections are being concreted though the majority of the stretch will be made of tarOn Monday when midday visited the colony cracks could be seen on the stretch between Royal Palms and Aarey marketSpread over 16 sq km Aarey Milk Colony which is home to more than 60000 residents comprises 27 tribal hamlets slum pockets cattle farm units and the Royal Palms areaIn March 2024 news reports revealed that the Bombay High Court instructed the agriculture animal husbandry dairy development and fisheries department to accelerate the repair of 45 km of internal roads in Aarey Milk ColonyAlleging that proper materials were not used Shiv Sena UBT Shakhapramukh and Aarey resident Sandeep Gadhave said ldquoThe newly made CC road stretch from Aarey market towards the dairy and Royal Palms started developing cracks within less than six to eight months of construction once again highlighting that shoddy work is being done At one location the CC has started coming off and we fear that it might get washed away during monsoon The main road in Aarey which was constructed by BMC is also seeing the same issuerdquoGadhave wrote a letter to the officials in charge of the road work on Monday demanding that be taken action against the contractor concerned after carrying out an independent inspection to check the quality of the roadsWith inputs from PTI