The respite from rain in the city after Thursday morning provided the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) with a much-needed opportunity to repair potholes on main roads.
The respite from rain in the city after Thursday morning provided the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) with a much-needed opportunity to repair potholes on main roads. However, the nature of road-repair work in the western suburbs was such that the road fills were uprooted within a few minutes of the repairs being done.
When asked about the shoddy repairs, a senior BMC official said that the constant rain was acting as a deterrent for the repair work. But, confronted with the situation where the repair work got wasted within no time, the BMC is now set to undertake action against the contractor/s concerned after a preliminary enquiry, the official said.
The incessant rains that lashed Mumbai for the past week caused numerous potholes to surface all across the city, especially on arterial roads like SV Road, the Western and Eastern Express Highways, LJ Road, Senapati Bapat Marg and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Road, causing traffic to move at a snail’s pace. On Thursday, as soon as the rains abated, the BMC, which is responsible for maintenance of most roads, started repair work by temporarily filling up the potholes with paver blocks and rubble.
The efforts, however, were wasted as the road fills eroded within minutes of the BMC workers moving on.
Mohan Damle, a motorist who used the western expressway from Bandra to drive towards Andheri, said it was a pleasant sight to see the BMC initiating repair works.
However, he said, “As I had some work at Bandra court I took the road adjacent to the Kalanagar flyover and saw BMC workers filling a pothole right in the middle of the road by putting paver blocks. There was a tempo filled with the blocks and rubble that was being put in the pothole. But on reaching the junction a recently filled pothole had come undone and paver blocks were seen strewn around. Obviously it was sub-standard work.”
When asked about the same, S.P. Darade, chief engineer (roads), BMC said that due to the moisture in the potholes, the blocks were being used as a temporary solution.
