Delhi CM, ministers to inspect roads; promise pothole-free roads by Diwali

New Delhi, Sep 29 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Atishi said that all the cabinet ministers led by her will start inspecting the roads in the capital from Monday after AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal wrote a letter urging her to repair the damaged roads.    

Government engineers and local MLAs will also be present along with the ministers. After inspection, repair work on these roads will be started immediately.

The decision came after a meeting of all the ministers, chaired by the CM, was conducted at Delhi Secretariat on Sunday. Delhi Chief Secretary and officials of the PWD Department were also present during the meeting. A comprehensive review of 1400 kilometres of PWD roads was done.

During the meeting, it was discussed which roads of PWD are completely damaged and need to be rebuilt; which are the roads where some parts like 100-200 meters have to be repaired. Along with this, those roads were also discussed where there are potholes and they need to be repaired.

“In the meeting, it was decided that the Delhi government will provide pothole-free roads to the people before Diwali,” Atishi affirmed.

“Due to rain, there are potholes at many places on the roads. Agencies like Delhi Jal Board, Tata Power, and BSES dug roads but did not repair them after doing their work. Due to this, the condition of Delhi's roads has deteriorated,” she added.

Atishi said that Arvind Kejriwal had handed her a letter in the Assembly on Friday, requesting the government to work on repairing the roads of Delhi on a war footing.

Chief Minister Atishi will inspect the roads in South and South East Delhi. Saurabh Bhardwaj has been given the responsibility of inspecting the roads in East Delhi. Gopal Rai will inspect the roads in North East Delhi.

Kailash Gehlot will inspect the roads in West and South West Delhi. Imran Hussain will take charge of the roads in Central and New Delhi. Newly inducted minister Mukesh Ahlawat will inspect the roads in North and North-West Delhi.

According to the Chief Minister, all the ministers of the Delhi government will start inspecting the roads from 6 a.m. on Monday. Local MLAs and all the engineers including the Chief Engineer of PWD will also accompany the ministers during this inspection.

Inspection of roads will be completed within one week. As soon as this inspection is over, the repair work on these 1400-kilometre PWD roads will be started on a war footing.

According to the Chief Minister, the work of repairing roads will be entrusted in October.