The potholes are an engulfing problem in the city as well as suburbs. But, the most to suffer from bad roads are western suburbs as almost 40 per cent of pothole complaints, received by the BMC this monsoon, came from Bandra, Khar, Santacruz, Vile Parle, Andheri, Jogeshwari, Goregaon, Malad, Kandivali, Borivali and Dahisar.
To address the issue, the BMC has planned to concretise 275 km roads by spending Rs 3,801 crore in the next two years.
According to the BMC data, 17,633 potholes have been reported between April 1 and August 3. Of these, around 6,843 potholes were reported from the aforementioned areas. Most potholes were found in K West comprising Vile Parle, Andheri West and P North which includes Malad. Fortunately, the city has not reported any casualties due to potholes unlike Thane, where five have died due to bumpy roads.
As of now, the civic body uses either cold mix technology or paver blocks to repair potholes. But, the chemical aesthetics applied get washed away during downpour. So, the BMC has decided to improve the current methods used for filling the road craters.
Accordingly, after testing potholes at four different patches on Anik- Wadala road; geo-polymer and rapid hardening concrete technologies qualified for the test.
“We have floated a tender now to appoint a contractor to repair potholes in city roads with reactive asphalt, an Austrian technology at a cost of Rs 2 crore for a period of 15 months,” said a civic official from roads department.
Asif Zakaria, senior Congress leader from Bandra said, “The western suburb is a large area, densely populated and most of the roads are made of asphalt which has a short life span. Also, extensive development has been seen in these areas and recurring trenches in a short manner have worsened the conditions of roads.” Concretisation is a costly option but will save BMC money in the long run.
But, cold mix technology has been a failure which we have been opposing for many years, he added.
Vinod Gholap, activist for Fight for Right Foundation said, “The pothole, against which the complaint is made, gets filled while the others in the vicinity are left unattended.” Activist Godfrey Pimenta said, “The condition of roads in Andheri has worsened. We have sent several complaints to the BMC. They even filled the potholes but the issue remains the same. Hope so, the concretisation plan will work out.”
