To make Ganpati Mandals' procession route pothole free, the civic team is on the field filling the carter. In the last week, the BMC has filled more than 4,000 potholes. Since April 1, the city has reported more than 27,000 potholes, out of which, 45 percent were reported in the western suburb.
The 11-day Ganeshotsav festival will be celebrated in the city from August 31. So for the smooth functioning of the festival, the BMC authorities have directed road officials to fill the potholes on a war footing. Deputy municipal commissioner Ulhas Mahale is himself monitoring the work. "The potholes are filled by rapid hardening concrete. So that the road can be open for traffic in a day," said additional municipal commissioner P. Velarasu on Saturday after a review of the work.
According to the BMC's statistics from April 1 till August 26, around 27,740 potholes have been attended by the civic team. Almost 9,969 potholes have been reported in the western suburb. The highest number of potholes are reported in Andheri and Malad. "In the last 8 to 10 days we have filled 300 to 400 potholes in a day on an average. As soon as we spot a bad patch, we fill it with rapid hardening concrete which is turning effective. Once the roads get concretised the issue of the potholes will be solved," said the civic official.
The BMC has experimented with four types of pothole filling technologies on the Anik-Wadala Road in the last month. The potholes were filled with geo-polymers, paver blocks, rapid hardening concrete and M60 concrete, respectively, to compare and gauge their effectiveness. Rapid hardening concrete which has qualified for the civic test is a method of filling large cracks on roads by pouring the concrete solution into the gaps. It takes six hours to dry the material and costs Rs 23,000 per cubic metre," said the civic official.
Highlights:
April 1 to August 26
Potholes repaired 27,740
Expenses incurred Rs 50 crore
HL: Areas with highest potholes
Andheri West, Vile Parle 1871
Malad 1837
Jogeshwari, Andheri East 1,591
Goregaon 1,335
