But for some patchy roads and manholes jutting above the road level, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) appears to be faring better than its counterparts in other cities when it comes to maintenance of roads.
Although the roads at many places have undergone repeated patchwork repairs, they are somehow holding through and have not proved hazards to the road-users even during the heavy rain, say residents of the city.
GVMC Commissioner MV Satyanarayana told Express that the corporation was able to maintain a good record in the matter of road repair because of its special team which actively scouted for bad road problems and fixed them up immediately. Except for some by-lanes like Lakshmi Talkies Road, Krishna College Road, and of course, the One Town area to an extent, the roads in Visakhapatnam are relatively pothole-free.
“The toll free number of the GVMC,1800-4250-0009, has been started to enable the public to call us up about the road-related problems and to enable us to immediately fix them,” said Satyanarayana.
Apart from these efforts, the GVMC has reportedly budgeted nearly Rs 30 cr for both maintenance and construction of roads this year. This includes the amount already spent as part of the pre-monsoon drive of repairs during April-June this year. The GVMC reportedly took up the task of fixing up of rough patches of the City roads much before the arrival of the rains and thus muddy stagnated roads were not seen in most of the zones. However, riding through the streets is still a bumpy affair for commuters due to the numerous badly-leveled patches on the road.
“Works in Zone-2 and Zone-3 areas of the City have been completed by spending `5 crore till now,” said GVMC Superintending Engineer (Works) V Chandrayya. Tenders for the next phase of works had been floated and the works in the Andhra University region and on the HB Colony Road would start soon, he said.
“This was not the case a year ago,” said a biker from the City who finds the roads to be in a relatively good condition now. “Fortunately, the terrain of the City does not let water to stagnate on the roads, which works as an advantage for the corporation”, added another civilian.