BMC’s cruel joke: Only 35 potholes on city roads

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) seems to be playing a cruel joke on the public: even as most city roads are dotted with potholes and killer trenches, the BMC says there are only 35 potholes in the city.

Worse still, roads that were repaired just before Ganeshotsav have been riddled with killer craters and trenches again because of the incessant rains.

According to the civic data, 4,455 potholes have been recorded on city roads this monsoon, of which 4,420 have already been attended so far.

Corporators from the Opposition party alleged that the civic administration is trying to mislead the public by showing less number of potholes. “There are more than 35 potholes on a single road from Kabutarkhana to Shiv Sena Bhavan in my ward. Despite making several complaints, the civic officials are just not taking note of it,” said MNS corporator Sandeep Deshpande.

The pothole issue had its reverberations in the civic standing committee meeting on Wednesday, with Opposition members slamming the BMC administration for the poor state of roads and staging a walkout. Mr Rais Shaikh from Samajwadi Party pointed out the substandard work done on pothole repairs.

However, additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh claimed incessant rains are proving to be an obstacle in filling the potholes.