While monsoon is arriving closer, but work orders for 150 roads are yet to be issued by BMC, Corporators claimed that 232 roads were approved for repair by the committee before the model code of conduct kicked in.
According to Mid-Day, on the remaining 70 roads for which orders have been issued, work has not begun. Corporators said that once work orders are issued, the onus of road maintenance lies on the contractors during the monsoon period, which would result in higher costs. The civic body was thus trying to save that additional costs, they alleged. Before the model code of conduct kicked off, the BMC had approved several projects worth Rs 2,500 crore.
Ravi Raja, opposition group leader told the leading daily, “Orders have issued only for 75 roads which the BMC officials felt were important. The citizens will yet again suffer from bad roads because of the lethargic approach of the civic officials.”
Denying the allegations BMC has said that work has begun on roads that were on priority. “Work on the others was not urgent but will definitely be repaired eventually. Work on them will start immediately after monsoon as we will be issuing work orders now that the code of conduct is relaxed,” a civic official told the leading daily.
The BMC has also said that they have already sent a formal reply to the corporators on the status of the contracts that were approved by the standing committee. S Nadgauda, in charge of the department, told the Mid-Day, “The roads department is working on completing pre-monsoon work on priority and it will be done soon.”
