Maha Officers Visit Australia, New Zealand to Study Roads as Shinde Sarkar Faces Flak Over Poor Quality

Nineteen officials of the Maharashtra rural development department are on a study tour of Australia from August 13-27 to gain exposure on introduction of international standard procedures, development of diverse skills in work, and capacity building of employees. The officers will also observe the road infrastructure of Australia and New Zealand in this tour.

According to the government resolution published by the rural development department of Maharashtra, the tour has been organised with the help of Asian Development Bank which provides financial aid to make roads in the state under the Mukhya Mantri Gram Sadak scheme.

The bank and a company that has been appointed as technical consultant by the bank are going to bear the tour expenditure of the officials. The department had also clarified in the Government Resolution (GR) that for this tour, no money will be spent by the Centre or state government. Post the tour, the delegation is expected to submit its report to the general administration department. Also, all these officers are expected to share the knowledge which they will acquire during the tour with their colleagues and juniors in the department.

The poor condition of roads in the state had come to light during the last monsoon session of Maharashtra assembly when the state government and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were cornered over poor roads and potholes.

One of the members of the Upper House of Maharashtra assembly, Satyajeet Tambe, had to catch a local train from Kalyan railway station to reach Vidhan Bhavan to attend the session. Posting his experience on X, formerly known as Twitter, Tambe narrated how the poor condition of the Mumbai-Nasik highway forced him to be stuck for more than three hours in traffic.

Recently, the Bombay High Court had also summoned six municipal commissioners for poor roads and deaths every year due to potholes. Five years ago, the court had observed that pothole-free roads were the right of all citizens. However, nothing much was done to improve their quality.