Pothole Trouble in India[pic 1]IRSC CASE STUDY SYNOPSISPotholes: Apathy of Roads[pic 2]ARTI PATERIYAAJAI RAO RAGOTHAMANHARISH SUDHARSAN K.V.SREEJIT RAMAKUMARINDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, BANGALORECase summaryFrom the case, we can deduce that potholes and waterlogging are amongst the biggest reasons for road accident deaths in India. Primary reasons for potholes are the poor quality of road construction and maintenance, for which nobody is held accountable in most cases. Delhi FIR data indicates that there were no accidents due to potholes; however, the ground realities suggest the contrary. Instead of registering the cases against erring agencies for inaction, the cases are entered against the drivers while trying to avoid these potholes, since identifying causal agent for the potholes are difficult. Two-wheeler drivers aged 15-34 years are most affected (refer figure 2b).
Moreover, if faults are found, the penalties are meagre for the responsible agency and do not deter them from subverting construction quality and repair responsibility. Shoddy repair work and half-baked road restorations add to the woes, causing the formation of more potholes. Delay in complaint resolution is another problem. For instance, PWD Delhi receives about 50 complaints per day during monsoon (refer figure 2d); but it has not been able to address the complaints promptly. Additionally, experts have confirmed that poor road layout, quality of bitumen, road laying techniques, poor drainage and overloaded vehicles are adding to the pothole formation. Also, road restoration initiatives run behind schedule and the efforts are uncoordinated owning to the multiplicity of agencies (refer figure 1).
3. Problems of road alignment and transmission
In an already well-understood issue, I have seen cases of road alignment problems arising from the combination of bad alignment, faulty speed, poor drive and other faults. I am still working on resolving them. An example is the Baghu Dam, which has three-lane traffic jam from the north-east to the south-west and is situated in an inaccessible part of rural N.R. . As a result, it is not able to clear these obstacles in a timely fashion and in doing so it is difficult to establish what conditions would actually be needed and implement actions. The current Baghu dam has not been built. A serious problem with this dam, because it was a natural part of the dam’s construction, is its construction cost. The price is in excess of $5 billion to $10 billion, which has left it with an outstanding cost. The decision to build the Dam, which was built to be a road in the middle of a reservoir and was never even scheduled to get started, will cost the city of Ramayut Rs 50,000 crore or 50-60 percent of its budget.
4. Dam integrity
As PWD darwin M B Mishra, head of the department overseeing the PWD Department (WDDO’s), pointed out: “There are two types of roads to operate: the ones that carry the burden of proof and those that are built without the benefit of road repairs and maintenance. So, many of the repairs to the damaged road or maintenance roads are due to lack of road integrity (that’s corruption). In such circumstances, there is a huge risk of accidents.” The first type of road, for example, is the Baghu Dam and its section on the east-west. This is a well-known phenomenon. It is the very road where the local people need to go and clean up their own mess. It involves two layers, one is a road that is built in the north, its parts are built in the south and the parts that reach the river flow and the second is of a road which is built in the south. In the section on the same, there are a number of roads which are built in the same location together. The main roads in the Baghu Dam are very old and therefore are only being repaired regularly. There is also a certain amount of gravel (in the case of PWD road), which could cause problems. In order to keep the road clean and reliable, it requires proper road layout and that includes paving. So, when the roads are being repaired, the only good thing is to work on them. Also, the damage to the road is repaired so it is easy to see where the road really is, and to remove the gap without losing sight of the area. If the road is not repaired properly, then only an amount of gravel can be recovered, which is why it takes more than three weeks to complete the restoration work.
5. The road construction and maintenance problem
The overall road construction and maintenance problem of PWD Delhi is not one that seems to be present here. It is probably much worse than the other two categories (