Along the almost 2,000 km of roads in Mumbai, it had identified 2,397 potholes, of which, it claims, 2,112 have already been attended to.
Came across a pothole in the last few days? If yes, it must be a rare sighting, since according to the civic body, only 311 of them remain in the city. There shouldn’t be more, since the corporation’s road department and its ward offices have already consumed 75% of the Rs40 crore allotted to clear them.
According to figures compiled by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the battle against potholes was won even before it began. Along the almost 2,000 km of roads in the city, it had identified 2,397 potholes, of which, it claims, 2,112 have already been attended to.
This year, the BMC had appointed 23 private contractors to attend to potholes and bad patches. Rs30.5 crore has already been distributed to them through the wards, and now a proposal has been submitted to the civic chief to allocate another Rs6 crore.
The civic body’s asphalt plant is equipped to supply around 80 tonne of asphalt mix every day to the various municipal wards.
Though the road department had directed the wards to keep 75 % of funds allocated for monsoon work and 25% for pre-monsoon repairs due to the ongoing financial crunch, many have already spent their share without prioritising their projects, and are now asking for more.
The work of attending to potholes during monsoon is handled by the maintenance department of each ward. The wards hire a private agency, which is required to attend to potholes within 48 hours.
The BMC also urges citizens to complain about potholes in their area at its dedicated cell, which receives 64 complaints on average each day. In fact, major roads like Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Road, P D’mello road, Antop Hill, Bandra Station road and Santa Cruz Station road are still heavily pockmarked.
Rahul Shevale, BMC’s standing committee chairman, denied the administration’s claim. “How can the administration say that there are only a few potholes left when Mumbaikars are facing difficulty in commuting every day?”
Ashish Shelar, BJP leader in the BMC, also called the civic body’s bluff. “How can the department finish its budgetary provision for pothole repairing so early into the monsoon? This is just
unbelievable.”
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