Civic data obtained by mid-day shows that of the 558 roads currently dug up, work on 328 has been completed only up to 20%, 113 has reached 50%, and 114 has reached up to 75%
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Trust the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to have gaping holes in its claims for finishing road repairs. Come monsoon, you can expect another round of bumpy rides on pothole-filled roads, as the civic body is nowhere close to achieving its target for completing repairs on 446 out of 558 roads before the May 31 deadline, as per data accessed by mid-day.
According to the data compiled by the BMC's road department, more than half of the city's roads have not reached the 50 per cent mark for repair work. Twenty per cent repairs have been completed on 328 roads, 50 per cent on 113 roads and 75 per cent on 52 roads. Only 62 roads have reached the more than 75 per cent mark on repairs.
The L Ward, comprising Kurla West, tops the charts with 53 road repair works, followed by 41 in the K-West Ward, Andheri West and 39 in R-South Ward, Kandivli West.
Illustration/Ravi Jadhav
Two months to go
The road repair works were started in October last year, with a May 31 deadline. BMC now has only three months to finish the mammoth task of 446 repairs before the pitter-patter begins.
Sanjay Darade, BMC's chief engineer, Road and Traffic said, "We are trying our best to finish 446 road repairs before monsoon. Despite several hurdles, our staff is working 24 hours to meet the May 31 deadline." As per the procedure, if road repair work is not completed before monsoon, then the civic body will stop the work at a safe stage and restart once the season ends.
Excuses, excuses
BMC officials are giving several reasons for the slow pace of repair work. A senior official from the road department said, "Road repair in Mumbai is a difficult job to do. Due to traffic and congested road networks, we are unable to shut down a complete road at once for repair work. In such a situation, we have to do work in parts."
Another official blames the traffic police for not granting NOC (no objection certificates) for repair works. "Most of the times, the traffic police delays the permissions. In the last three months, they have held NOCs of 180 roads, leading to no repair works. We have two more months, so we will speed up the work."
A recently conducted inquiry into 200-odd road repairs has also impacted the work, since many tainted road contractors are still doing the job. They had stopped the work for a while since their payments had been halted.
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