As part of its Pothole Free campaign, the government of Uttar Pradesh, led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, has rid over 77,000 roads of the state of potholes in 2023-2024. Along with fixing potholes, the campaign also involves renovating/restoring the roads.
It is worth mentioning that the Chief Minister had earlier directed officials of 10 departments to coordinate in order to run a special campaign to fix roads damaged by rain and other reasons, free them of potholes as well as renovate/restore them wherever needed.
The state government has set a target of making more than 83,000 roads pothole-free in the year 2023-24. This includes making 49,557 roads pothole-free and renovating/restoring 33,727 roads.
As per available records, by November 17, the government had successfully repaired a total of 77,489 roads, with 48,979 roads made pothole-free and 28,510 roads renovated/restored. The progress in pothole repair compared to the target has been 98.8 per cent, while the progress in renovation/restoration work has been 84.5 per cent.
At the departmental level, the Public Works Department (PWD) has repaired the highest number of roads, totalling around 69,983. Among them, approximately 44,045 roads (99.2 per cent of the target) were repaired and rendered pothole-free while about 25,983 roads (90.9 per cent of the target) underwent renovation/restoration.
Similarly, a total of 1,001 National Highways were repaired, with 827 roads (92.4 per cent of the target) made pothole-free and 185 roads (97.4 per cent of the target) renovated/restored successfully. The Mandi Parishad has repaired a total of 719 roads, including 630 made pothole-free and 89 renovated/restored. Similarly, the Panchayati Raj Department has worked on 774 roads, ridding 388 of potholes and renovating/restoring 386.
Additionally, the Irrigation Department worked on 448 roads, making 288 roads pothole-free and renovating/restoring 160 roads whereas the Rural Development Department made all 336 roads pothole-free.
The Urban Development Department worked on 3,729 roads, making 2,322 pothole-free and renovating/restoring 1,407 while the Housing and Urban Planning Department repaired 43 roads, ridding 15 of potholes as well as renovating/restoring 28.
The Infrastructure and Industrial Development Department worked on a total of 455 roads, making 137 pothole-free and renovating/restoring 318.
