Pune: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) finds itself in a difficult position as the city’s roads continue to deteriorate under relentless monsoon rains.
The administration, which has come under fire for the poor state of the roads, has assured that repairs will commence as soon as the weather permits.
However, the unavailability of essential hot mix—a crucial combination of heated tar and gravel—has severely hampered their efforts, forcing citizens to navigate through rain-damaged roads filled with potholes.
The PMC's hot mix plant in Yerawada, once the backbone of road maintenance in the city, is now outdated and struggling to keep up with demand.
Meanwhile, hot mix facilities run by the Public Works Department and private entities remain shut for the duration of the four-month monsoon season. This has left the PMC's road department with limited options, leading to frustration among officials and residents alike.
On a typical day, the Yerawada plant produces around 200 tons of hot mix, which is highly effective in repairing road damage. However, with continuous rains soaking the gravel needed for the mix, the hot mix is failing to bind properly, causing freshly repaired roads to deteriorate almost immediately.
The PMC has reached out to contractors and the Public Works Department for additional supplies, but these too are unavailable, and alternative solutions like paver blocks and cold mix have proven inadequate.
The heavy traffic on Pune's roads only exacerbates the problem, as the weight of vehicles quickly displaces the cold mix and blocks, leading to the reemergence of potholes. Despite these challenges, the PMC is pressing on with cold mix repairs in the interim, though officials acknowledge that these are far from ideal.
Aniruddha Pawaskar, head of the PMC's road department, emphasized that hot mix remains the most effective solution, but with wet gravel rendering it useless, effective road repairs will likely have to wait until the monsoon subsides.
