Locals, opposition attack BMC over its failure to fix the craters on city’s streets, demand an FIR against civic chief after 21-year-old lost his life after his bike hit a pothole near JJ flyover
BMC officials repaired the pothole near JJ flyover junction after Khan’s death caused a furore
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A 21-year-old youth died after his bike hit a pothole near JJ flyover on September 26. Rizwan Khan, who died on the spot, is the city’s first pothole victim this season.
Rizwan Khan (21) died after his bike hit a pothole near JJ flyover
The police said Khan was not wearing a helmet and sustained severe head injuries, while his friend, Murtuza Sayyad, who was riding pillion, received minor injuries.
A local politician, Waseem Sayyed, said the two youths had gone to Mazgaon at night and were on their way back. “Murtuza lives near JJ hospital and Khan was going to drop him home when the incident occurred. He was first taken to JJ hospital and then shifted to Saifee, where he succumbed to his injuries,” said Sayyed.
Blame on BMC
The incident created an uproar in the civic standing committee yesterday after corporators raised the issue and said BMC officials should be booked and compensation given to the family of the victim.
The issue was raised by Samajwadi Party corporator Rais Shaikh, who said the civic body’s apathy is what led to the incident. “The BMC is responsible for his death. An FIR should be filed against Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta. There are so many complaints pending with the corporation on bad roads, but it has failed to take action,” he added.
Shaikh also said BMC officials repaired the pothole the next morning, ie after the death, after ignoring it for weeks despite there being complaints about it. Locals have demanded action against BMC officials concerned for not paying attention to the grievances.
Pothole pain
The BJP isolated the Shiv Sena on this issue. Party’s Manoj Kotak said that in spite of there being so many potholes in the city, the Sena was continuing to protect civic engineers and not taking any action on them.
Additional Municipal Commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh said the BMC would fill all potholes by October 5.
Leader of the opposition in the BMC Pravin Chheda brought to light the corporation’s claim of only a few potholes remaining to be filled up in the city.
“The BMC is fudging numbers as there is no record of the exact number of potholes on city streets,” he added.
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