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%, while the progress in renovation/ restoration work has been 84.5%.
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% of the target) were repaired and rendered pothole-free while about 25,983 roads (90.9% of the target) underwent renovation/ restoration.
Similarly, a total of 1,001 National Highways were repaired, with 827 roads (92.4 % of the target) made pothole-free and 185 roads (97.4 % 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.
