Mumbai’s monsoon brings back the pothole menace - over 6,758 cases reported from June to mid-July. Andheri West (K/West ward) topped the list with 488 complaints, closely followed by Bhandup (S ward) with 453. However, officials noted a sharp decline in the quantity of mastic used for pothole repairs over the past year.
Despite BMC’s efforts to make Mumbai pothole-free by concretising 49% of city roads before the monsoon, data indicates that the number of complaints have increased this year. Launched in 2022, the road concretisation project aims to eliminate potholes, with remaining work scheduled to resume in October. Between June 1 and July 15, pothole reports rose from 6,231 in 2024 to 6,758 in 2025, indicating a spike despite ongoing efforts.
To address the issue, BMC deployed road engineers for daily inspections in each ward, while citizens report complaints via social media, the civic disaster management helpline, and the ‘My Pothole Quick Fix’ app. Of the total complaints, 3,461 were received through these digital channels, while 3,297 were identified by civic engineers.
The BMC uses mastic asphalt to fix potholes during the monsoon, deploying 8 to 10 mastic cookers daily. "In 2024, 25,632 metric tonnes of mastic were consumed for repairs and pre-monsoon maintenance, but only 6,548 metric tonnes have been used so far this year. The deployment of mastic cookers has also declined, with a daily peak of 33 in 2024 compared to 24 this year. A civic officer added, “We aim to identify and repair potholes early to prevent safety risks.”
This year too, the BMC has assigned one road engineer to each of its 227 wards, responsible for daily inspections within a 10–15 km radius and resolving pothole complaints within 24–48 hours. For asphalt and paver-block roads yet to be concretised, the civic body has allocated Rs. 154 crore for repairs, which was Rs. 205 crores last year.
Mumbai’s road network spans 2,050 km, of which 1,333 km are already concretised. The remaining 700 km of asphalt and paver-block roads will be concretised in this 17,000 crores mega drive. The project aims to concretise 700 km of roads across the city—320 km (700 roads) in phase I and 378 km (1,421 roads) in phase II.
