Mumbai: BMC won't fill gaping potholes, but wants to fix unbroken medians

The Linking Road divider doesn't look like it needs changing.

Why fix something that isn't broken, BMC? Even as the city's roads lie in tatters, the civic body has instead turned its attention to the perfectly intact dividers along Linking Road, which they plan to replace at the cost of Rs 1.73 crore.

Residents of H-West ward (Bandra, Khar Road, Santacruz) were surprised to hear that the BMC has floated a R1.73-crore tender to replace the median barriers on Linking Road from Bandra to Santacruz.

BMC officials said the dividers

Zoru Bhathena, activist and resident of Khar Road, said, "The dividers on Linking Road from Shoppers Stop at Bandra to Santacruz police station are in good condition. There doesn't seem to be any problem at all. I don't know why the BMC wants new dividers. This could be another scam to dig up and spoil what doesn't need to be fixed."

He added, "It looks like the BMC has too much money and too few roads to spend it on. Carrying out such needless work is a waste of public money." Mahesh Mirchandani, a resident of Andheri and a daily commuter along Linking Road, said, "I have seen the dividers and they are in good condition. There is no need to install new dividers on this road. The civic body should use this fund to improve bad roads."

Were not uniform in height and shape. Pics/Shadab Khan

Yet another scam?
The BMC estimates that ripping out the old dividers and building new ones will take about eight months. Not only is this a futile exercise, but could also end up damaging the road surface.

This is not the first time the civic body has been accused of wasting public money on unnecessary work. In the same ward, mid-day had reported last year how perfectly fine pavements in Bandra and Khar were planned for repair.

Earlier, the civic body had also come under fire for hiring contractors to repair roads that were still intact. This scam was observed across Vile Parle, Andheri, Bandra, Kandivli and other areas, and in many cases, municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta cancelled the repair tenders on finding the roads in good condition.

BMCspeak
When mid-day contacted Atul Patil, deputy chief engineer of the BMC's Roads and Traffic department, he asked the reporter to visit his office and said he would not be able to talk about the project on the phone.

On the other hand, his senior, Vinod Chithore, chief engineer of the department, told this paper, "There is no uniformity in the height of dividers. This being a VIP stretch, it not looks good. Also, there are some damaged patches. These are the few issues conveyed to me by the traffic department; there must be other problems too."

However, he then passed the buck to the H-West ward officials, stating, "The work of replacing the median strips was recommended by the local ward, considering the bad condition of the dividers."

Also Read: Mumbai Rains: Fed up with potholes? Here's what you can do, according to Bombay High Court

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