In a significant push to improve road infrastructure, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has announced the completion of a massive road repair drive, filling a staggering 2,989 potholes across the city in just one month. The civic body claims this is the fastest pace of essential road repairs undertaken in the last three decades.
War Footing Against Potholes
The drive, part of the PMC's 'pothole-free road' campaign, was executed with a sense of urgency. The civic administration formed dedicated teams comprising contractors from all divisions, engineers from the main department, deputy engineers, and junior engineers to work on a war footing. According to Annirudha Pawaskar, Chief Engineer and incharge of the PMC Road Department, the campaign has led to road repair work worth approximately Rs 15 crore in the last 30 days, averaging around Rs one crore per ward.
Citizen Complaints Addressed Promptly
The campaign heavily relied on citizen feedback. The PMC received a total of 3,904 complaints from citizens through its dedicated 'Road Mitra' mobile application. Out of these, the civic body has taken action on nearly all, with only 34 complaints remaining pending as of Wednesday, December 3, 2025. This represents a resolution rate of over 99% for the complaints registered during this period.
Pawaskar explained that the focus was on potholes that had developed on otherwise good roads, creating dangerous spots for commuters. "Such locations were prioritised and repaired immediately," he stated. However, for stretches where the number of potholes was excessively high, a more comprehensive approach was adopted. "On some roads, the number of potholes was so high that simply filling them was not sufficient. Therefore, those stretches were completely milled and resurfaced with fresh asphalt," Pawaskar added.
Scale of the Repair Work
The scale of the work undertaken is substantial. Over the past month, the PMC has repaired approximately 1,89,000 square meters of road surface. Furthermore, around 1,800 locations underwent the process of milling and were then resurfaced with a fresh layer of asphalt, ensuring more durable repairs.
Pawaskar emphasized the importance of this work for Pune's residents, acknowledging that potholes are a major civic issue. "We have improved many roads. However, this process will not stop here. We intend to continue this work consistently in the future," he said. He claimed that the intensive campaign has already provided significant relief to citizens by drastically reducing the pothole problem on many important routes across Pune.
The month-long blitz represents a concentrated effort by the PMC to tackle a perennial problem that plagues Indian cities, especially after the monsoon season. The use of a dedicated app for complaints and the formation of special teams indicate a structured approach to civic maintenance, the results of which will be tested in the coming months.
