Thane civic body restarts app to report pothole menace
Thane Municipal Corporation has restarted Star Grade, an application to report potholes, after several complaints were made about the same. It was launched two years ago and had reportedly become popular among residents. However, the app was stopped over non-renewal of its maintenance contract. Residents can upload pictures of potholes on the app and alert officials to take action.
You can now file complaints on potholes online. The pothole application, Star Grade, which had gained popularity last monsoon, was restarted after complaints related to potholes poured in. Launched by the Thane Municipal Corporation two years ago, the app had become popular among residents. ?The application started functioning two days ago. However, it is still in testing phase and we haven?t formally launched it. The formal launch will take place next week. People who knew about the application use it. We have received one complaint till now,? said an official from TMC requesting anonymity.The application had stopped because the contract with the agency had not been renewed. The official said, ?We had not renewed the contract of the agency which handled the application. We have signed an annual maintenance contract with the same agency.?He said the contract was not renewed as the corporation plans to expand the application. ?We want to include other complaints such as pipe burst, water leakage, uncollected garbage, unclean roads, water supply, open manholes, waterlogging, choked nullahs and poor conditions of the footpaths,? he added.The app has registered more than 1,000 complaints on an average in the last two monsoons. Last year, the application recorded more than 900 complaints out of which the maximum complains were from Majiwada, followed by Railadevi and Lokmanya Nagar areas.About the applicationThe residents can download the application, take the photo of a pothole and upload it on the app. The app is backed by GPS (Global Positioning System), so the location of the pothole will be automatically uploaded.Complaints are supposed to be addressed within 24 to 36 hoursThe app displays the status of the complaint along with the details of the complainant.The app is linked to TMC websitesAndroid users can download it from play store while the IOS and Windows users can log on to stargrade.thanecity.gov.in.