Mumbai: BMC starts resurfacing work starts on 18 roads

A pothole-ridden stretch of Aarey Road, which is slated to go for resurfacing. File pic

The BMC has finally taken up the work to resurface 18 of the 449 bad roads in the city after taking verbal permission from the traffic police. Civic officials said it would take another day or two to get the written permissions, which are a must for road works.

All the main roads have already been converted into cement concrete. These are small internal roads which need resurfacing as they developed potholes during monsoon," said an official from BMC's road department.

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A pothole-ridden road in Pratiksha Nagar. File pic

He added that the process to get written permission from the traffic police would take another one or two days. "As we got verbal go-ahead from the traffic police, we started preparation for resurfacing. The work of other roads will start next week," he said.

"Of the 18 roads which were taken up on Friday, three are in south Mumbai, one is in eastern suburbs and the remaining 14 are in western suburbs," said Ulhas Mahale, deputy BMC commissioner. All three roads in south Mumbai where work has started are in Dadar and Parel area while the sole road from eastern suburb is in Ghatkopar. Of the 14 roads in western suburbs, three each are in Bandra West, Andheri West and Malad, two each in Bandra East and Kandivli while one is in Goregaon.

Another BMC official said, "Resurfacing of the roads takes 10 to 15 days depending on the length, width and previous condition of the road."

Pothole-ridden roads are an annual woe for Mumbaikars during monsoon. After the public outrage over it this year, the Bombay HC had asked BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal to explain their side on September 30. Chahal told the Bombay High Court that it would resurface all bad roads in the city within three months.
The civic body then conducted a survey of all the roads and found that 449 were in need of resurfacing. Of these roads, 201 are in south Mumbai, 128 are in eastern suburbs and 120 in western suburbs. The BMC then issued work orders for around 360 roads on and after October 21.

However, mid-day in a report on November 2 highlighted that the work was yet to take off, with civic officials saying they were awaiting permission from traffic police. Traffic police officials had earlier told mid-day that the process of granting no objection certificates takes 10 to 15 days as they need to assess the traffic situation.

30
Day in September when BMC appeared before Bombay HC

03
Time (in months) BMC sought to finish resurfacing

360
No. of roads for which BMC has issued work orders

Current work status

Place - Roads that need resurfacing - Roads taken up for work
South Mumbai 201 3
Eastern suburbs 128 1
Western suburbs 120 14
Total 449 18