Half-baked job disappoints

The slick samarth path, which was unevenly razed following serious accidents, has been set right through road surface levelling, but in a haphazard way.

Although the road department has finally made the road smooth enough again, the residents are not happy over the quality of work and the duration taken. Only the central part, measuring around 50-foot in width, has been tarred, leaving the rest 15-foot patch undone along the borders. As a result, the road has been paved on two levels and the commuters are confused about the real driving zone, jeopardizing motorist and pedestrian safety.
The road surface was previously extra smooth and hence faced dangers of skidding. The road was roughened overnight following a mishap, where a youth was seriously injured. The inappropriate scrubbing had raised hue and cry amongst the residents. The issue soon became a disputed one following the local corporators'/civic body's inaction for a relatively long time. However, the recent road repairing works has again put the residents in dilemma as to where to drive the vehicles since prevailing road has been left in a two-layered state.
A few days ago, Cityplus had highlighted the issue under the title 'PMC's hurried grazing of Samarth Road heightens accident rate,' following which, the residents raised voice over the uneven road work by the Road Department of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). The letter from Kothrud Traffic Police Division appreciating the PMC's step added fuel to fire. Taking hue of these developments, Sandeep Khardekar, a local social activist, condemned the step by sarcastically describing it as a "thoughtful" remedial step, exhorting the civic body to sort out all the roads to make them safe to drive upon.
"Many residents were injured in various accidents when the road was smooth and even after PMC scratched it. Ravi Tamhane, a resident, suffered a leg fracture while another young student called Amit Tekale is in critical condition following an accident and has been admitted to Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital," informed Khardekar, a Bharatiya Janata Party activist.
When Cityplus called Kelkar to discuss the updated status of the issue, she affirmed the road has regained its original status. When asked about the new two-level appearance of the road, she brushed away the question, saying that this was just maintenance work. "The entire road will be tarred soon," was the clarification offered by her.

--SANJEEVANI DIDMISHE