Video of Potholes On 3 Week-Old Samruddhi Expressway Surfaces Online: Netizens Mock Nitin Gadkari

We recently came across reports about the final leg of the Samruddhi Expressway, which connects Mumbai and Nagpur, being inaugurated by the authorities. The 701 km long expressway is now fully operational. With this new expressway open, the travel time from Mumbai to Nagpur has come down from 18 hours to 8 hours. However, things aren’t looking great on this newly opened expressway. Just weeks after its inauguration, people have started posting images of potholes on the expressway. Here we have a post where a netizen is mocking Union Minister Nitin Gadkari after driving through a pothole-filled road.

The images and videos have been shared by Mumbai Matters on their X profile. The videos have been posted with a caption “Reminded of an oft-repeated statement: 'Indian roads will be on par with American roads.' Never knew American roads were like #SamruddhiMahamarg.”

This was a statement that Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is often heard saying during his public appearances. Coming to the video, we see a section of the newly built Samruddhi Expressway with several potholes in the leftmost lane. The images were originally clicked by the Mid-Day news website.

The current central government did take several initiatives to expand the road network in the country, but the quality of most of these roads was not the best. We have come across several instances where people have pointed out quality issues in the construction of both national highways and expressways.

While Nitin Gadkari has promised world-class roads for India, the contractors and agencies that carry out the work seem to have different plans. Although the minister had issued warnings to such companies in the past, these incidents continue to occur.

The minister had said that the government will be monitoring the quality of work carried out by the contractors and companies, and if any issues are found in terms of quality or maintenance, a heavy fine will be imposed, and the company will be asked to repair the issue at their own cost. The company will also be blacklisted and barred from any future projects.

In the comment section of this post, we see many people complaining about the same. Some of the comments are: “Even the moon would have a better surface...” “Nobody is honest in India — neither politicians, government officials, judges, police, NGOs... God bless its people.” “Poor state of affairs. Inadequate and poor-quality infrastructure all over. Inefficient project management. Why is there no accountability for the contractor? He is duty-bound to maintain the roads for a particular number of years as per the contract terms and conditions.”

Coming to the Samruddhi Mahamarg, this is not the first such case that has come to light after it became fully operational. Three days after the final leg was opened, we came across a video report where a concrete slab from a flyover on the Samruddhi Expressway fell off. Only the rebars in the concrete section were left hanging on the road. This happened on the stretch of the highway that passes through Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar.

As of now, we have not come across any reports about action being taken in this matter. We really hope that Nitin Gadkari comes across this post and takes the necessary action to fix this issue in a timely manner. It is really sad to see that taxpayers money not being used of getting wasted in such manner.

In another case last month, a section of National Highway 66 caved in within Malappuram district of Kerala. A detailed investigation revealed quality issues, and the contractor or company responsible for the work was asked to fix the road at their own cost.