Pune: PMC razes faulty speed breakers from Nagar road, Vadgaon Sheri, YerwadaÂ
Pune: PMC razes faulty speed breakers from Nagar road, Vadgaon Sheri, Yerwada
Speed bumps being constructed citywide are not meeting the standardised measurements of construction and have resulted in fatal accidents, especially in Wadgaon Sheri, Ramwadi, Yerawada and Nagar Road.
16 April 2024
By Payoshi Bisht
The Pune Municipal Corporation has decided to take down all the wrongly constructed speed bumps in the city as they pose a threat to daily commuters on the road. A large number of these speed bumps are constructed without following the standards put forth by the Indian Road Congress (IRC). The main aim of IRC is to provide a layout for the design and construction of roads and highways and recommend standard specifications to keep in mind during construction.
As per IRC standards, a speed hump is supposed to be constructed within a height of 10 cm in order to ensure safe travel. On the contrary, road construction being sanctioned by the PMC has raised some serious problems for commuters. Due to the speed breakers being so high, many commuters have been injured or even died after severe impact.
The head of the Water Supply Department of PMC, Aniruddha Pawaskar, shared his views on this. He explained that the real cause of the issue cannot be tapped because the management and handling of the construction is under the control of the engineers and contractors. As per Pawaskar, the PMC is doing everything to correct the speed bumps and curb the situation. No official statement has been given as to when the roads will be corrected completely, but the work is in progress as more than 100 speed humps citywide have been taken down and are being reconstructed, as per the PMC. However, there is no official data available to confirm the same.
Vivek Velankar, an RTI activist and President of the Sajag Nagrik Manch expressed his discontentment regarding the PMC’s activities and supervision. There are no records of the contractors or engineers who supervised the construction of these speed bumps.
Velankar stated that these roads are being constructed at the whims and fancies of the contractors without following the correct standards and procedures. He suggested that the Traffic Police be actively involved in tackling these issues and bringing them to light. He also talked about funds being collected from the country’s taxpayers being used inappropriately to fill the pockets of contractors and that it should be further probed into.
