The potholes and bad stretches visible on city roads do not really exist; one merely sees them due to an optical illusion.

This is the message the civic administration appears to be conveying. Even as citizens continue to complain that heavy downpours have created bad patches on many roads, the civic administration disagrees.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Sreekant Singh said, “There are no significant potholes on BMC roads.” However, even as Singh said these words, DNA
photographers captured images of roads with bad stretches, including Nepeansea Road(near Priyadarshini Park), Anik Wadala Road, Pickett Road and Old Nagardas Road.
Kishor Changlani, a shop owner at Pickett Road, said, “We have been corresponding with the local ward office to fix the pothole-filled road. While they have repaired one stretch, they have not even touched our side of the road yet.”

Singh could do well to get a daily report from his ward offices. Requesting anonymity, a ward officer admitted that there were several bad stretches on one of his roads. “We have been attending them for the past eight days.” Other places where road conditions require attention, said civic sources, were Shiekh Mistry Road at Wadala, Parsi Panchayat Road at Andheri and Station Road at Goregaon. Standing Committee Chairman Ravindra Waikar described Singh’s claim as ‘hollow’.