G-north ward asst chief transfers engineer over shoddy pothole work

Assistant commissioner of G-north ward transferred its roads department's assistant engineer after finding him incapable of addressing the issue of potholes in the ward. The action was taken after MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande gheraoed the senior official's office on Thursday because corporators claimed that pothole-filling work was not done properly in Dadar.

Assistant commissioner Ramakant Biradar wrote a letter to the roads department to prepare a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for filling potholes and also expressed his disappointment over the quality of asphalt macadam.

He also sought transfer of engineer Sanjay Pawar.

Deshpande, on Thursday, while speaking in the corporation meeting said that when an assistant commissioner himself writes to the roads department that the quality of asphalt macadam is not good, because gravel and asphalt separate after rains, leading to a pothole again in the same place.

Biradar, in his letter to the roads department, has mentioned that the Worli Asphalt Plant should send ready 'seal coat', and instructions to this effect should be given to the assistant engineer (Worli Asphalt Plant).

Biradar also said in the letter that work of filling potholes is done at the ward level and, hence, the results vary. Therefore, if there are SOPs for filling potholes, then the ward office can fix the same following the guidelines.