While it is no secret that the civic administration is short-sighted when it comes to the city’s upkeep — last year’s malaria outbreak due to shoddy pre-monsoon work being a case in the point — it now appears that it may be completely blind.
While it is no secret that the civic administration is short-sighted when it comes to the city’s upkeep — last year’s malaria outbreak due to shoddy pre-monsoon work being a case in the point — it now appears that it may be completely blind.
How else can one digest its claim that, despite continuous rains since five days, there is not a single pothole in Colaba, Bandra (W) and Chembur. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) says it has repaired 2,205 pothole spots and now only 231 remain in the entire city.
Sources in the civic body however admit that 1,100 pothole spots still dot city roads — not only the arterial and interior roads, but major ones too have developed pockmarks due to torrential rains. The situation is the worst in western suburbs.
Additional municipal commissioner Aseem Gupta agreed that the pothole situation is not good. “We had sent civic officials to inspect the roads after the heavy rains. They have told us that the qualitative situation is very bad.”
Civic officials are blaming incessant rains for the rising number of potholes, as repairs require a dry spell. “The Met department has predicted that rains will continue for another 2-3 days. As soon as there is a dry spell, we will undertake repairing of roads on priority basis,” the official said.
BMC has already spent Rs26 crore on pre-monsoon repairs of potholes. It may now have to spend more than the Rs40 crore earmarked in the budget for pothole repairs. “If needed, we will have to increase the budget. I have already intimated the municipal commissioner about the likely increase in the cost of pothole repair,” Gupta said.
The statement however does not sit well with the civic body’s records. According to figures available with BMC’s roads department, only 231 pothole spots remain. Of them, 146 are in the western suburbs, followed by 51 in eastern suburbs, and only 34 in the island city.
DNA invites you to show BMC the ground reality by sending in pictures of potholes you come across. Please mention the location and a landmark along with your name and send your entries to: inbox@dnaindia.net.
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