Fix potholes before Diwali, CM Vijay Rupani tells civic bodies

GANDHINAGAR: In what could be a tall order for civic bodies to follow, chief minister Vijay Rupani has asked officials and elected office bearers of municipal corporations and municipalities in the state to fix all potholes before Diwali. He asked civic bodies to prepare master plans for repairing potholes in their respective areas.
Potholes have mushroomed on Ahmedabad roads following the relatively heavy rain earlier this month.Official records say that there have been 1,641 complaints from residents about potholes this monsoon. The highest number of complaints have come from the West Zone, where 479 residents lodged complaints about potholes.
During the this monsoon season, there have been 189 complaints from the North Zone, 233 from the South Zone, 154 from the East Zone, 232 from the Central Zone, 169 from the North-West Zone and 184 from the South-West Zone. This, even as the monsoon seaon is yet to end.
In 2017, as many as 3,315 complaints for potholes were received by the civic body during the monsoon. With the 2017 assembly election just months away, the pathetic state of the roads had led to a flurry of memes with the tagline – “Vikas Gaando Thayo Chhe”. Amit Shah had then, at a public meeting, asked the state government to repair the roads in a fortnight. On Tuesday, the CM distributed Rs 2,000 crore of grants to civic bodies at a function in Gandhingar on Tuesday. At the meeting, Rupani stressed on the need for healthy competition between urban local bodies to make world-class cities.