GHMC resumes road safety drive, officials face challenging deadline for road repairs and pothole rectification

Weeks of heavy rains have left Hyderabad’s roads severely damaged, with thousands of potholes and broken stretches disrupting traffic. GHMC has set an August 25 deadline to complete repairs before Ganesh Chaturthi, though officials admit delays may be inevitable.

Hyderabad: Cracked and cratered stretches, pothole filled internal roads and muddy and slippery roadsides – the incessant rains that lashed for almost a fortnight have left Hyderabad’s road network badly battered.

Before the monsoon fury got unleashed, the road network was already in shambles and the incessant rains had only added to the woes of the commuters.

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As the rains took a reprieve, the GHMC sought to take stock of the road conditions and set pace for needed repairs at the earliest. According to the civic body, the assessment resulted in identifying 11,741 potholes so far and repairs were completed on 8,330 of them. Around 434 catch pits were repaired and 232 covers were installed where needed.

The GHMC has set a deadline of August 25 for road repairs, rectifying damaged potholes, and making the roads motorable, a herculean task indeed given the extensive damage.

On Thursday, After a gap of three weeks, the GHMC resumed the road safety drive based on the IMD’s alert on a less chances of rain in next few days.

GHMC Commissioner RV Karnan said this period would be utilised to repair the damaged roads and potholes under a special drive. He said measures were taken to repair damaged catch pits and manholes to alleviate commuter inconveniences.

Karnan also directed the officials to ensure these road repair works were completed by August 25 with special arrangements in place to ensure no inconvenience to devotees during the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations.

According to GHMC’s official records, the engineering and maintenance wing maintains a road network of around 9,100 km, including B T roads and CC roads.

Officials have not disclosed the precise extent of road damage caused by the ongoing monsoon and heavy rains. However, it is estimated that approximately 5,000 km of the network may have been affected.

A senior GHMC official said attending to the damaged roads and potholes by August 25 may not be possible due to heavy volume of traffic. “These repairs have to be attended during nighttime as traffic will be less. Thus, some more time is needed in case heavy rains are reported further,” he added.