BMC to Bombay High Court: Will complete road repairs by May 20

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has informed the Bombay High Court that ongoing repair work in different parts of the city and suburbs would be completed by May 20.

This was stated in an affidavit submitted by SVR Srinivas, additional municipal commissioner, on Thursday, during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Bombay Bar Association.

The petition sought proper maintenance of the roads and strict implementation of traffic rules during the progress of repair work. At the last hearing, the court sought a report from the civic body on the progress of maintenance of roads.

The civic body stated that the work was started on April 1 and would be completed by May 20. "Tenders and work orders for preventive maintenance work have been issued for Rs6 crore for major roads and Rs2 crore for minor and arterial roads," it stated.

A total of 156 locations in the western suburbs, 63 in the eastern suburbs and 179 locations in the city have been identified for pre-monsoon repairs. It said that the civic body had taken up work orders worth Rs2,700 crore for concretization of roads.

In the coming three years, the BMC will take up the work of 2,773 asphalt roads with total length of 840.13km and 560 cement concrete roads of 398km.

Also, all trenches will be reinstated by May 20 and no permission would be granted for trenching after April 15.

The court accepted the report and posted the petition for further hearing in June. The judge said that if the petitioners or intervenors have any suggestions, they should approach the high court-appointed committee.