Shameless SRA chief says he won't repair Mumbai road till monsoon ends

It took his picture to be published in mid-day for Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) chief Nirmalkumar Deshmukh to take cognisance of the fact the SRA is responsible for what is possibly Mumbai's worst road a patch in Santacruz with 180 potholes, some spanning 3x3 metres and 10 inches deep.

This paper has followed up on the dismal condition of the 500-metre stretch which connects the S V Road at Milan Subway junction to Link Road passing through Daulat and Rizvi Nagar for the past week, in which several locals had complained that, due to the huge craters, people had fallen from their motorcycles.

Auto rickshaws faced a danger of turning turtle, and senior citizens, children and pregnant women couldn't pass through the street full of craters. The private road was a part of the deliverables from HDIL, which developed a building in the area under the SRA scheme.

While potholes had been repaired on the road, heavy rains on the weekend caused them to reappear. Pic/Sayed Sameer Abedi

HDIL was supposed to build a proper road and hand it over to the SRA who would then give it to the BMC. However, until this correspondent reported on the mess, no action had been taken either by the builder or by the SRA.

Now, SRA officials told mid-day that repair work on the road has started and a newly laid road would be given to the BMC after monsoon. Deshmukh, CEO of SRA, said, "We regret the inconvenience caused to motorists using the private road. I have already instructed HDIL to fill the potholes at the earliest.

Due to the rains, it is becoming difficult to fill the potholes and, so, temporary repairs are being done. After monsoon, we will see to it that a proper road is developed and handed over to the civic authorities."

Temporary patchwork had already begun after our reports first appeared, with around half the potholes being filled with stone crush and tar. However, heavy rains on the weekend ensured the road turned pockmarked again.