IIT team to inspect 22 Smart Roads

Aurangabad: A team of experts from IIT Powai (Mumbai) led by Prof. Dharamveer Singh will be arriving in the city on November 7 (Monday) for conducting the third-party inspection of 22 roads which are being developed under the Smart City Mission. The IIT team will inspect and submit their analytical report to the ASCDCL.

Earlier, the Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Limited (ASCDCL) had claimed that it will be developing 111 roads by spending Rs 318 crore with the financial contribution of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). Later on, it was found that there is a paucity of funds. As a result, the ASCDCL decided to develop 22 roads (in the first phase) through its available fund of Rs 80 crore.

Earlier, there was a hue and cry and objection raised from the political persons when one single contractor was awarded the contract for all these roads. Now, the contractor has been told to develop only 22 roads as per the financial availability in the ASCDCL exchequer. The politicians even performed the 'bhoomipujans' of the road works. The work got started. It is observed that two months are needed to construct one road by the contractor. Meanwhile, the paver blocks have not been fixed on the footpaths near these Smart Roads. The citizens are unable to find the difference between the roads developed by AMC and the ASCDCL. The responsibility of conducting third-party inspections has been given to IIT Mumbai. The IIT team under the headship of Prof Singh visited the city in April, this year. The team will start the inspection of the roads on Monday morning. If any shortcoming or usage of substandard quality material is detected then the contractor and the others concerned may land into trouble, said the sources.