Nagpur: It appears Nagpur’s pothole problem has mysteriously vanished — at least on paper. If the figures submitted by the 10 zonal offices of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) are to be believed, barely 12,834.03 square metres of asphalt roads across the entire city are in need of patchwork.The claim comes despite months of complaints from motorists, residents and commuters about damaged internal roads and crater-like potholes on several stretches of the city. Yet, after repeated instructions from the headquarters, zonal engineers have reported what officials themselves describe as a surprisingly “minimal” requirement for repairs, raising serious doubts about the accuracy of the ground assessment.Now, the executive engineer of the NMC’s hot-mix plant department has issued a second reminder asking all zonal executive engineers and assistant commissioners to submit revised road repair estimates within three days. The letter states that the plant can finish patchwork on the area currently submitted in just 24 days — an indication of the miniscule volume of repair requirements. The figures submitted by the zones show glaring inconsistencies. Nehru Nagar zone has reported more than 1,700 sq m of patchwork, Dhantoli zone around 1,371 sq m and Dharampeth zone just over 1,000 sq m. Several other zones, however, have reported surprisingly low figures despite visible road damage and frequent complaints from citizens.The communication also warns that once the proposal is finalised — including a 10% contingency — no additional load for annual road maintenance will be considered. This has triggered concerns that zonal officials may be currently underreporting patchwork requirements only to push emergency repairs during the monsoon, a pattern that was seen in previous years as well.The issue again highlights the chronic underutilisation of the NMC’s upgraded in-house hot-mix plant. The facility was strengthened specifically to speed up pothole repairs and reduce dependence on private contractors, but the latest figures suggest the zones are still reluctant to rely on it.In Nagpur city, roads are owned by multiple agencies. The NMC owns over 4,000km of roads, while the rest come under other agencies like Nagpur Improvement Trust, state PWD, NHAI, and Maha Metro. However, barring NMC, none of the agencies take care of roads falling under their purview. According to experts, only one agency should be made in charge of maintaining all city roads falling under municipal corporation limits.
