Pune : Freshly resurfaced Tilak road till Peru gate dug up within merely 3 Days, activist blames lack of co-ordination 

Active Pune citizens stated that the road from Tilak Smarak to Perugate, which was asphalted only some days ago, has been dug up again, causing several issues for citizens.

As per further information shared by Vivek Velankar, President, Sajag Nagrik Manch,

The road from Tilak Smarak Mandir to Perugate in Peth area was paved and smoothed on March 11. The Mahavitaran Company has been given permission to excavate 90 meters of the road from March 15, which was done yesterday evening by the Mahavitaran Company. The work of Mahavitaran was not urgent, but as part of its regular work, they started the work by taking formal permission from the Road Department of the Municipal Corporation.

It is clearly seen that there is no co-ordination between the authorities of the municipal road department. This has become a common experience for citizens. This is a waste of citizens’ tax money. Dozens of requests to implement a one-road-one-unit scheme have been made over the past 15 years to avoid such chaos and have fizzled out.

Request you to put in place a system to stop such things forever.

An X user has tweeted about this “Asphalting of road from Tilak Smarak to Peru Gate on March 11. Mahavitaran has been allowed to dig the road on March 15. The road was dug on March 22. Where a road should not have had a pothole for 3 years, the road was dug in 11 days.”

As per further information from the permission letter accessed by Pune Pulse,

Following are some of the terms & conditions for the road digging work:

·         Pune Municipal Corporation’s Excavation Guide Book is available from the Roads Department. Excavating companies shall be bound to comply with all the provisions of the said manual.

·         After receiving the digging permission, the engineer of the concerned road department should be contacted and the work of laying the cable/pipe line along the road should be started as per his suggestion.

·         Under no circumstances should the excavation length, start and end location as well as excavation start date and end date be changed. Hon’ble reserves the right to change the start and end dates of the above sampling due to some reasons. Superintending Engineer will remain.

·         Accordingly, the excavation company will be informed in writing and it will be binding on the companies.

·         If excavation is to be done by different companies on the same road, all the companies should come together and agree to plan to lay the cable from the same excavation at the same time.

·         Accordingly, there must be proper coordination between different companies on the same roads. It is also necessary for these companies to cooperate with each other regarding excavation. But all these companies need to apply separately and get approved separately.

·         Excavation of the road from the main part of the road (Carriageway) shall not be allowed possibly. But if due to some reasons it is not possible to lay the cable/pipeline through the pavement along the road then digging the side of the pavement along the road will be allowed. Excavating companies should approve the excavation line-out from the concerned Pune Municipal Engineers before starting the work.

·         Before starting the excavation, the area should be protected by putting barricades and warning tapes on the entire length of the excavation.

·         Radium reflectors and safety should be followed at night so that there is no accident, if this safety is lax and if any accident occurs, the entire responsibility of the digging companies will remain.

·         According to the Pune Municipal Excavation Guide Book, Addendum No. 9, it is mandatory for the excavation companies to put up work information boards at the beginning and end of the excavation work up to 100 m.

·         Adequate security guards and wardens for traffic planning should be appointed wherever necessary.

·         Covers on road rain nets and drains should be properly covered so that excavated soil does not enter them.

·         The Site Incharge / Engineer from the Excavation Holding Companies should submit the work progress report to the Pune Municipal Corporation every week as per Model 10 of the Excavation Guide Book.

·         Iron plate should be used for road crossings and in front of property holders’ gates as per requirement.

·         At times, radium reflectors and safety lights should be installed along the entire length of the excavation.

·         If the digging permission is more than 100 m, the digger should undertake excavation upto 100 m at a time. After completing the night digging in the said work, after clearing all the roads and opening the road for traffic, the next length of digging should be undertaken. If the cable / pine line of other companies are to be laid in the same excavation, all the co-ordination and cooperation of the excavation company is required.

·         After excavation, the company will be responsible for disposing off entire debris.