The BMC has received complaints of 272 potholes from the citizens till July 9. More than 100 potholes have been increased in the last 10 days. While the western suburbs have reported the highest numbers of potholes, more number of complaints is from the Malad area. However, potholes are being seen only on asphalt roads, so concretisation will be a solution to it, claimed the civic official.
As per the civic data, the highest number of potholes (48) was received from Malad, followed by 26 in Borivali. Out of total complaints, nine potholes have been reported by other agencies, such as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Public Works Department (PWD) etc. The BMC has attended and closed 177 potholes complaints by Sunday evening. (July 9)
Mumbaikars criticize BMC for its shoddy work on potholes
However, the citizens and activists are not happy with the way the civic body is carrying out its work. Nikhil Desai, an activist from Matunga, said, "What a shabby work of filling potholes the BMC has done on Lady Jehangir road, an important road connecting Ruia college. They are spending crores of rupees on filling potholes. The work should be of that standard. Vinod Gholap, a resident of Malad said, "Potholes are seen on the asphalt roads this monsoon. The BMC experiments with several different technologies but it gets washed out in heavy rains."
"As soon as we receive a complaint, the potholes are fixed as earliest as possible. This time, 227 sub-engineers have been deployed to supervise the pothole filling work that is being done by the contractors. The western suburbs have more asphalt roads, so potholes complaints are being seen more in these areas. But as soon as all the city roads get concretised, you will see good results," said a civic official of the roads department.
BMC distributes asphalt to 24 civic wards
The BMC has distributed reactive asphalt material to all 24 civic wards, which will be used to fill potholes this year, following its good results in Khar. The city has a road network of 2,050 km; around 1,050 km of it has been concretised. In the current fiscal, the BMC has undertaken concretisation work on 397 km of roads at the cost of ₹6,080 crore, the biggest ever civic contract for road work.
Important figures
June 1 to July 9
Total potholes reported - 272
On roads under BMC's jurisdiction - 221
Other agencies roads - 09
Potholes filled - 177
Highest number of potholes
Ward area potholes
P North - Malad - 48
R Central - Borivali - 26
K west - Andheri west - 19
G North - Dharavi, Dadar - 17
