Same old story: Delhi roads cave in during rains

MESSY AFFAIR: Every year private contractors are given the job of fixing and maintaining Delhi's roads.

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New Delhi: The Capital is generally regarded as being the better maintained of all metros. However, as soon as the monsoons arrive, the truth about Delhi’s roads comes out.

Every year private contractors are given the job of fixing and maintaining Delhi's roads, yet every monsoon, the roads just seem to crumble.

Divya Jyoti was one of the citizens who filed Right to Information (RTI) applications in December 2007 to identify the corruption behind road construction contracts.

“The private contractor money is hand in glove with the authorities and deliberately do shoddy work to make money year after year,” says Volunteer Parivartan, Divya Jyoti Jaipuriar.

Meanwhile, the upkeep of Delhi's roads is divided between various civic agencies. 90 per cent of Delhi's roads come under the MCD, while the rest are shared by the CPWD, the PWD and the NHAI.

Although the MCD claims to have spent Rs 300 crore on road repair this year, but the state government hints that the BJP ruled MCD is playing politics.

“We give them the money but they do no work. They want to make trouble for us in an election year,” says minister Raj Kumar Chauhan.

Meanwhile, the MCD has identified over 300 stretches that they aim to fix after the rains.

Road experts, however, point out that while proper drainage is crucial for roads to last longer, road-building technology too needs to be upgraded.

However, Delhi is two years away from hosting the commonwealth games and is fast running out of time and excuses to get its infrastructure in place.

Although one may not be able to pull off what Beijing did with the Olympic games but at least we should not embarrass ourselves while the world is watching us.