NMC set to recarpet Central Avenue

November 1, 2013

Proshun Chakraborty, TNN |

NAGPUR: The city’s busy commercial district, Central Avenue, is also known for rampant violation of traffic rules and poor roads. One is the reasons for this is Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) decade-long neglect of road maintenance in the 9km stretch from Mayo Hospital Square to Prajapati Square connecting Ring Road.

Now, the civic administration has finally decided to relay the entire stretch. A senior civic official told TOI that the road was last tarred during the Integrated Road Development Project in early 2000. As the quality of work was good, the road lasted for over half a decade. But in the recent past, the condition of both sides of the road started deteriorating, with motorists suffering bumpy rides.

Mahesh Kulkarni, a resident of Gandhibagh, said, “When citizens are suffering due to bad roads, the civic body is wasting tax payers’ money to suit their whims and fancies. The ruling party has no control over the administration, which does not appear to be serious about the city’s development.”

The civic body’s apathy can be gauged from the fact that the then standing committee chairman Dayashankar Tiwari had on February 18 this year approved the civic administration’s Rs 6.04 crore proposal for tarring this road. Even municipal commissioner Shyam Wardhane gave his nod for the works on February 26, but nothing has moved since then.

Sources, however, said that due to financial crisis the civic administration delayed the recarpeting work of the stretch.

Now, the proposal will again come up before standing committee chairman Avinash Thakre for his nod in a meeting on Friday. Sources said this time the civic administration has made some changes to the proposal. As NMC’s hotmix department is flooded with tarring works, it plans to rope in Nagpur Improvement Trust’s hotmix plant for the tarring of Central Avenue. The money will be paid to NIT through internal book adjustment between both civic agencies, said a senior official. NIT will start the work after Diwali, the proposal states.

Apart from this road proposal, the civic administration will also table proposals to tar 35 other roads at a cost of Rs 11.86 crore. Welcoming the civic administration’s decision to recarpet roads, motorists said now NMC should ensure quality works.

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com