90% road repairs done, rest before monsoon, BMC promises court

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday assured the Bombay High Court that it has completed 90% of road repair and maintenance work and would finish the remaining before the onset of monsoon.

A division bench of justices Shantanu Kemkar and MS Karnik was hearing a suo moto public interest litigation on the issue of increasing number of potholes in the city, which was leading to accidents and deaths of motorists.

On the last hearing, the court had asked the civic body to ensure that all major roads and arterial roads in the city are repaired and made pothole-free before the monsoon.

BMC counsel Anil Sakhare on Wednesday submitted a compliance report to the court listing the work completed by the corporation. "Road repair and maintenance work is an ongoing process. Till now 90% work is over and the remaining will be completed within the next 10 days. During the monsoon, the civic body will continue inspecting the roads for maintenance work," Sakhare said.

He also told the court that two helpline numbers have also been set up for citizens to call and lodge complaints and a mobile app has also been launched. Sakhare added that ads regarding this have been given in two newspapers till now, to which the court said the civic body should give more ads in the coming week.

"The ads should be large so that people can see them easily. Ads of politicians and even civic bodies are full-page ones, then why not these too," justice Kemkar said.

The court has posted the petition for further hearing on June 15.