Bhayandar: With more than a month-and-a-half of the monsoon season still to go, the roads of the twin-city, which experienced stints of heavy rainfall in early July are already riddled with numerous potholes.
Instead of getting these repaired urgently, Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) officials indulged in a blame game.
They accused each other for the pathetic road condition, exposing the lack of coordination between the public works dept and the crucial water supply wing.
There are lots of small and big potholes across the main and arterial roads of the twin-city. The recent spell of heavy rains has created and added potholes and uneven roads. At some places, the roads are battered and at other, thoroughly washed away.
Interestingly, the road outside the civic chief’s official bunglow is itself plagued by countless potholes.
“Te recent digging for the underground sewage pipe-laying on various stretches by contractors deployed by the water supply wing is to blame for this condition. Potholes will be repaired once we get a dry spell,” said a PWD officer.
“The claims are baseless as none of our contractors was engaged in pipelaying recently,” said a water supply officer, requesting anonymity.
“The road tendering smacks of corruption. Why doesn’t the MBMC slap fine or blacklist contractors after roads develop potholes during the ‘defect liability period’,” questioned Rohit Suvarna, a former corporator.
“It is difficult to analyse if there are potholes on the road or the road itself is in a pothole or the entire stretch is a pothole,” said Shehnaz Kanorwala, a Mira Road resident.
The MBMC claims it spent crores of rupees to improve road infrastructure. However, the promise of pothole-free roads never fall flat in the rainy seasons.
By Suresh Golani