With the monsoon just days away, and hundreds of roads dug up across the city, the blame game is on between the BMC and the city's traffic police over missing deadlines and delayed permissions. This leaves citizens to, once again, bear the brunt of projects not being completed on time and forced to navigate potholes, waterlogging and roads that are barricaded, or narrowed to single lanes.

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The worst sufferers will be those who take arterial roads; as dna reported in yesterday's edition, work was in progress on 501 roads across the city, till April end.

The posh South Mumbai Bhulabhai Desai Road is a case in point. BMC had begun work to concretise it more than two and a half months ago. Yet, after all this time, the area, lined with mid-rise buildings and high-end electronics and apparel stores, continues to present a picture of debris and rubble.

Constant road work has crippled traffic movement on the narrow road, and led to dust and vehicular smoke in the area, dangerously upping pollution levels.

Dilip Patel, a resident of Kemps Corner, says his 15-min commute to Haji Ali via Warden Road has now increased to 50 mins. "Moreover, the blaring noise of the vehicles outside our homes and a manifold rise in air pollution is a major problem for us. It is also a nuisance for patients at the nearby Breach Candy hospital and those wanting to reach there in emergencies," said Patel.

BMC officials have pegged the cost of concretising the road at Rs24 crore, which is being carried out by RP Shah Infrastructure, a private contractor.

Senior officials from the civic roads department admitted the delay in completion of the work, but blamed the traffic police for it. "We have completed nearly 85% of the work; we have lost count of the number of times we have contacted the local traffic police for their permission to carry out the work."

He added that they the joint commissioner of the traffic department had given permission in writing, but traffic cops at the local level were refusing to cooperate, since it is a VIP area.

"We started a month late, as we got the traffic police permissions in November. Before that, the underground drains and pipelines were being replaced by other departments. Also, we don't get permissions to take work on one full stretch at a time, and end up working on small stretches which is far more time-consuming," added the official.

Another official assured: "If there is no delay in further permissions, we should be able to complete the work by this monsoon." Monsoon is expected to hit Mumbai on June 1.

The situation in areas such as Hindmata in Dadar (E) and Ghatkopar is not much better. In Hindmata, the BMC has dug up the road to replace the narrow storm water drain pipes with a bigger 350-metre-long pipe, so that waterlogging in the chronic flooding area is reduced by 70%.

About 600 metres of the road has been barricaded to facilitate the work, resulting in traffic movement being affected. Commuters going towards the city via Elphinstone bridge have to take a roundabout route through the narrow alleys near KEM hospital. The new pipe will start from Dr BA Road and move further under the Gokhale Society lane, towards Acharya Dhonde marg.

Civic officials say 60% of the work has been completed and the rest should be finished in a month. An official admitted that work on the busy road has affected traffic at this point. "But isn't it important to reduce flooding in the area, which can cut off this part of the city completely from south Mumbai?" a civic official asked.

Another civic official associated with the work said the first phase of the work is complete. "We are facing huge problems in getting permissions from the traffic police for the second phase of the work," the official added. For the second phase, traffic movement towards the lane leading to its adjacent lane will have to be stopped.

Similarly, in Ghatkopar, residents have been awaiting a motorable road on a 1-km stretch – from Sarvoday Hospital to Jagdusha Nagar on the prominent Golibar Road – for five years. This connects Amrut Nagar, Geldar Nagar and the Rifle Range road, and also three major industrial estates, including the Ghatkopar industrial estate.

Ishita Shah, a resident of the area, says complaints to local politicians and the civic body have fallen on deaf ears. "It should not take more than five minutes to cross the road, but these days, it takes about 40 minutes. Last year, the BMC temporarily filled up craters on the road, but those have come back again," Shah said.

Haresh Sanghavi, another resident, says BMC has started some road repair work on about 200 metres of the area in the last few days. "We are doubtful if it can be completed before the monsoons. Commuting on the stretch is a nightmare during the monsoon," he said.

However, a civic official said: "The work got delayed because of a delay on MMRDA's part in handing over the road. We have started work on the stretch, and it should be complete in a month."

The BMC is spending Rs1 crore in making the road.

"We should be completing most of the work before monsoon. We are going as per the master plan on roads, and carrying out minor pre-monsoon works. Those which have been delayed will be made motorable before monsoon and work will be continued in October," additional municipal commissioner SVR Srinivas said.

He added that work on nearly 650 roads across the city is likely to be completed before the monsoon.

A senior traffic police official, who declined to be named, added: "If the BMC works on arterial roads at peak hours, the entire traffic situation of the area goes out of control, leading to massive traffic snarls. So, we cannot give them permission to occupy the entire road for work. They do not give us a plan of their road works in advance, so instant chalking out traffic diversions in a city like Mumbai is not possible."