It's all left to you, public, road engineers not reporting potholes

A few days of drizzle and the BMC has started receiving complaints related to potholes. However, as on Tuesday, all the potholes came from residents, while the road engineers are yet to be on their toes.

The alleged lethargy on the part of the civic engineers is adding to the woes of motorists who have to navigate rough roads, given that the pothole treatment work is yet to get underway as on Tuesday, in the absence of contractors.

The civic body had appointed over 250 road engineers nearly two years ago, to take care of city streets. While the BMC entrusted responsibility of maintaining a particular stretch, around 10 km per head, to road engineers, it had also cleared that it is the primary responsibility of road engineers to report potholes, while complaints registered by public will be a 'bonus.'

"The potholes filling work could not take off, but road engineers can still report craters even though there are no contractors in place. However, they hardly seem to be bothered. The engineers must be under the impression that they will get away with the lethargy, blaming the absence of contractors," a source in the department said.

Nikhil Desai, a Kings Circle-based civic activist, insisted the problem begins at the higher level in the department. "It is the chief engineer who should have ensured the contractors are given work orders on time. No wonder the same lethargy is seen amongst lower ranks too," he pointed out.

When asked, additional municipal commissioner SVR Srinivas claimed that the road engineers were instructed to get on with business a long ago. "It is just that the city has not received enough rainfall and there are not many complaints. They will be on their toes, if potholes surface on roads," he added.

As on June 17, the civic body received 38 complaints, all filed by public
The BMC received 38,587 potholes complaints during 2013-14. According to a rough estimate, 60% of the total potholes, that is nearly 23,152, were reported by road engineers then, while the remaining complaints came from the public.

In 2012-13, the BMC had reported 25,270 potholes. In that year, when the system was used in a full-fledged manner for the first time, the road engineers had reported 40% of the total grievances.