Every monsoon, Mumbaikars have to suffer due to pothole ridden roads. Every monsoon, the civic and government agencies make tall claims about pothole free roads but their claims every year are proven wrong. A report has now surfaced saying that, a road repair worker in Kharghar was told to use mud to fill potholes, and cover it with pebbles by his CIDCO-appointed contractor.
According to Mid-Day, a worker named Alam Shaikh gets paid Rs 600 per day, was seen following his contractor's instructions near Kharghar railway station. Shaikh was merely pushing in some mud (more like muck) into the pothole before covering it with some pebbles. "My contractor has asked me to insert this mud into the potholes and level them. I have to use the pebbles and broken stones later to cover it all up," he told Mid-Day.
Shaikh also accepted that its was not a permanent solution. A CIDCO official inspecting the work told the leading daily, "We began work in full swing but due to the sudden rain, we had to stop work. The resurfacing of roads makes no sense when the roads are wet and it doesn't last long. I am aware that the roads are in bad shape and our site engineers have already inspected them. We have given the list of roads for repairs to the contractor and work would begin soon after Diwali."
According to the data provided by the civic body, citizens reported 7,775 potholes between 2009 and 2014 (June to June), compared to 19,597 between 2014 and 2019. For instance, south Mumbai saw 985 potholes between 2009 and 2014, compared to 2,057 between 2014 and 2019. In these 10 years, the BMC has not attended to a mere 699 potholes, according to the data.
