CM Uddhav Thackeray vows strict action against those behind bad roads

Uddhav Thackeray says government officials responsible will also not be spared

Cracking his whip on contractors to ensure that public money is used for the right purposes, during a review meeting held on Wednesday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that officials will face strict action if they don’t do their job of repairing roads properly and even government officials responsible for it will be punished for dereliction of duty. The CM issued the warning after reviewing the condition of roads across the state.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at Wednesday’s meeting

Thackeray further said that money will not be a problem for repairing roads, but it should be put to the right use. He also said that upgraded technology should be used to fix bad roads and suggested that concrete roads should be laid in areas that suffer the most during monsoon. Representatives of state and central agencies attended the meeting. Ministers in-charge and some MPs and MLAs also took part.

Commuters navigate potholes near Poisar Church at SV Road, Kandivli on Wednesday. Pic/Satej Shinde

The review was necessitated after the Cabinet ministers on Tuesday raised concern over the bad state of roads, which includes the ones under the civic body’s jurisdiction and state and national highways as well. They blamed officials and engineers supervising the work for the bad condition, and demanded action. Other than local self-governments like civic corporations, the PWD, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, National Highway Authority of India and metropolitan region development authorities construct and maintain roads, bridges and flyovers across the state.

The agencies conducted presentations on the current status of roads and measures being taken to repair them before the CM on Wednesday.

50 per cent
Part of the total money needed for road works to be released by Oct-end

For better roads

. Action plan for quality work to be prepared 
. 50 per cent of money required will be released by Oct end
. Work on the Mumbai-Goa and Mumbai-Nashik highways to be expedited
. Chief engineers to review works in their jurisdiction daily and supervise important works personally
. War room for coordination between all agencies to be set up in Mantralaya 

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