Roads in bad shape do not belong to MCD: Mayor
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01/08/2008
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Hindu (New Delhi)
NEW DELHI: Delhi Mayor Arti Mehra has urged Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to look into the miserable condition of roads maintained by the Public Works Department in the Capital.
Addressing a press conference here, Ms. Mehra said: "The Chief Minister and her government have criticised the poor maintenance of roads by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. It would be better if they do some introspection on the poor maintenance of roads by the PWD.'
Pointing out that the PWD has about 90 major Master Plan roads to maintain, the Mayor said: "Compared with the civic body, the PWD is maintaining 2,338 km lane of master plan roads. A majority of PWD roads are not being properly maintained despite all the resources at their command. The civic body has a tough challenge to maintain the most complex road network system comprising 16,000 km of asphalt road, 5,000 km of concrete road and 6,000 km of brick-paved road. .'
Pointing out that the PWD roads fall in areas within the jurisdiction of the civic body, the Mayor said it was often misunderstood that these were MCD roads. "This brings a bad name to the MCD for no fault of it.
Thus we are often blamed for poor maintenance of roads that do not belong to us. It is a sad state of affairs that with plenty of resources the Delhi Government is not able to maintain roads properly,' she added.
The MCD for its part had launched schemes for strengthening and improving various roads within its area under all 12 civic zones, the Mayor added.