Rain sweeps away BMC promise of smooth roads

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s promise of pothole-free roads has gone up in smoke in heavy rainfall this monsoon. Major roads in Central Mumbai are riddled with potholes, causing huge inconvenience to commuters.

When civic chief Ajoy Mehta took over the reins of BMC as civic chief last year, he had promised pothole-free roads during monsoon. He had vowed to make it a top priority to provide better roads. “Good roads will help in traffic-free ride,” he had said.

However, several roads in the city are filled with potholes, making the BMC’s promises hollow once again. Roads like Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lady Jamshedji Marg, Raja Badhe Chowk, Five Gardens, Mancharji Joshi Marg in Central Mumbai are filled with potholes. Taking note of this, Mr Mehta visited these roads on Tuesday and took stock of the situation. He instructed civic officials to repair the potholes properly and at the earliest.

According to the BMC figures, 320 potholes have been found on city roads since the beginning of monsoon, of which 270 have been attended to, leaving only 50 potholes in the city.

Scoffing at BMC figures however, civic activist Nikhil Desai from Matunga said, “The BMC figures are a total bluff. I invite BMC officials to visit my region and I can show them at least 100 potholes within a one km area. Even after repairing the potholes, there is no guarantee roads will last if there is heavy rainfall.”

To protest the rising number of potholes on city roads, Mumbai Congress has started an online agitation on social media. The party has appealed to citizens to send pictures of potholes on email (mumbaicongress@gmail.com) or social sites like Whatsapp (9619468962), Facebook and Twitter.

Congress city chief Sanjay Nirupam said, “In just the first major rains, the city roads have turned into shambles. Due to the growing number of potholes, there has been huge traffic jams across the city. However, the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP alliance is doing nothing to sort out the problem. While there are potholes everywhere, the BMC is claiming that there are only a few potholes in the city. To contest this, we have asked Mumbaikars to send us pictures of potholes in their areas.”