Last month, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Singh unveiled an ambitious initiative aimed at creating a pothole-free Delhi, with the government’s public works department told to repair roads spanning nearly 1,400 km with this year’s Diwali as the deadline.

But an analysis of official records suggest the government is far behind its targets. In fact, there has been a nearly five-time surge in the number of craters across Delhi’s roads, if compared to figures from 2021.

The Delhi government’s PWD, which is among several agencies responsible for road construction in the national capital, has 176 ongoing maintenance projects, of which 162 have missed their deadline at least once since 2018.

Complaints have been piling up. This month, 2,721 complaints have been received by the PWD about potholes, of which 1,033 are still pending. These include one dated October 9 about the Outer Ring Road, previously dug up from Badli to Mukarba Chowk, as now filled with mud, leading to significant traffic congestion.

Source: PWD data

A correlation with accidents has been suggested before.

According to a 2022 report by the ministry of road transport and highways, “road features such as sharp curves, potholes and steep grades tend to be accident prone because it may require skill, extra care and alertness to negotiate these road features”. 

A Delhi transport department report released this year listed five high-risk locations, including Mukarba Chowk, Kashmere Gate Metro Station, the intersection at GT-Libaspur Road, the Punjabi Bagh intersection, and Ring Road Hanuman Setu. This was in terms of fatalities. 

Mukarba Chowk, which recorded three pedestrian crashes every kilometre in 2022 according to the transport department report, saw one complaint being filed on September 27 this year. This complaint said that the merging point was dug up, had many potholes near the Mukarba Chowk flyover, and could be dangerous for two-wheelers. 

Apart from the high-risk locations, the Signature Bridge ranked highest in terms of high-risk corridors and saw nine pedestrian deaths per kilometre, according to the transport department report. A complaint on September 28 said this road requires repair.

Source: Delhi transport department, Supreme Court committee on road safety

Source: Delhi budget figures

Source: Delhi budget figures

Source: Delhi budget figures

Meanwhile, Manoranjan Parida, director of the Central Road Research Institute, said there are various reasons why the PWD faces a delay in construction and maintenance work, such as “lack of effective planning and resource allocation, including the availability of pothole repair machines and construction materials, proper deployment of manpower and machinery, along with strict quality control and ongoing monitoring of progress”. 

He said that “high traffic volume and congestion, poor road infrastructure, driver behaviour, lack of pedestrian safety” are challenges in road safety”.  

Newslaundry reached out to the PWD’s office and Delhi transport minister Kailash Gehlot for comment through phone calls and an email. This copy will be updated if a response is received.

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