Aiming to find a permanent solution for the fierce criticism hurled at it for bad roads, the BMC made several suggestions during the hearing of several public interest litigation (PILs) filed at the Bombay High Court against the pothole menace.
Firstly, the civic body specified that not all roads come under its jurisdiction as some of them fall under the management of agencies like the airport authority, Mumbai Port Trust, etc.
Secondly, it proposed to have a single planning body which will have an overarching say on the issue of poor roads. During its presentation before the HC, the BMC averred that the aforementioned agencies give the least priority to the repairing of roads coming under their belt.
Just because of their lackadaisical approach, the civic body always gets an earful from citizens, said the BMC. To avoid such negligence, it proposed that all the road infra, including flyovers and bridges, should be handed over to the BMC for maintenance purposes. To recover the cost of repairs, the construction agencies should give advertisement rights to the BMC, it added.
Lastly, it apprised the HC that there 21 roads are not in proper condition. Of them, ten and 6 roads are in western and eastern suburbs, respectively, while the remaining five roads pass through the city. The contractual agencies have already been directed to make these roads cemented.
The civic body also pointed out the prompt mechanism of attending to pothole complaints. It said that the roads are repaired within 48 hours after getting a complaint. BMC administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal was present during the presentation.
