THANE: Nearly 8,224sqm of city roads which is roughly equal to the space required for parking 115 trucks or 700 sedans has been damaged in the lake city over last few days of heavy rainfall.While the municipal administration has been claiming of having conducted immediate repairs on roads, activists have rubbished these claims questioning the quality of roads and the subsequent repairs being undertaken by the corporation. Activists have further alleged corruption in the process claiming that repeated queries on the quantum and materials used for repairs have gone unanswered by the TMC.A recent analysis of the potholes surfaced in the city revealed that nearly 947 number of complaints were reported in various parts of the city. The collective volume of these pockmarks is believed to be around 8224.12sqm. The city has around 385kms of roads.Of these, Diva ward has the highest volume of potholes in the city with around 80% or 6,395sqm of the total volume of potholes reported by the public works department of the TMC. Mumbra ward has the next highest volume of damaged roads in Thane with 675sqm of holes while Majiwada that sees a huge traffic of heavy vehicles passing has nearly 375sqm of potholes on roads. In comparison, the Kalwa ward has reported the least number of potholes in the city with barely 39sqm area damaged in the last few days.Activists have meanwhile lashed out at the survey and also the work carried out by the administration following flak from activists and motorists. “How is it that the city could see so much of damages to the roads that have been constructed after spending a bulk of the tax payers money. There should be an audit of the works undertaken every year and clicking pictures of the stretches repaired should also be undertaken to avoid recurrence,” said activist Adesh Bhagat from Diva.Citizen activist Sanjeev Datta from Kharkar Ali alleges the TMC has been stonewalling information on quality and materials used for frequent repairs. “I had filed an RTI asking the amount spent on road repairs but there was no reply. They have asked me to file RTI to individual ward committees and projects separately. How come they do not know the amount and why residents file so many queries? If I keep filing RTI for individual projects, it will take another ten years. It seems they are hiding something,” he claims.Meanwhile, commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal has ordered his teams to take up repair work on a war footing and said he will personally oversee the works. “I have asked officials to take up repairs of roads marred with potholes without waiting to ascertain if it is maintained by any other agency like MSRDc, PWD, etc. If possible, we will repair the roads using conventional methods or else we will try paver blocks temporarily,” he said.Civic officials said they have been taking up repair works at several parts of the city and said they are also attempting a new polymer mix that should help reduce the problems of the potholes resurfacing. A majority part has already been repaired, claimed officials.

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