146 potholes reported on BMC app since June

At 15, R/Central, which covers Borivali, had reported the second most number of potholes.

Data furnished by the civic body shows that between June 1 and July 4, 146 potholes had been registered on the civic body’s ‘My BMC pothole fixit’ digital portal — launched in 2019 for addressing pothole related complaints.

Of these, seven potholes had been reported by other agencies such as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Public Works Department (PWD), Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF).

The maximum complaints, meanwhile, had emerged from the R/north ward wherein 26 complaints had been raised by netizens on the portal.

While the civic body has planned to carry out repair works on 22 of the potholes, it has already attended to 19 of the total complaints raised.

According to senior civic officials, more complaints are reported from the western suburbs because it has a larger labyrinth of asphalt roads.

Meanwhile, officials added that the pothole fixing drive is ongoing round the clock and at present 227 sub engineers have been deployed for supervising the pothole filling work that is being done by the contractors.

As per the data procured from the app, of the 120 complaints raised by Mumbaikars until Tuesday, the civic body has attended 89 potholes and completed work on 82.

“The contractors are using asphalt mastic and cold mix along with ready mix concrete to fill the potholes. Almost all of these potholes are being seen in asphalt roads and this problem could only be solved by concretising them. Since no concretisation work could be possible during the rains, we have instructed the contractors to maintain the bad roads so that they stay motorable throughout the monsoon season,” said an official from civic road’s department.

Mahim resident Mushtaq Ansari, who runs the twitter page Pothole Warriors claimed that some of the most frequently complained about pothole ridden swathes of Mumbai, this season, also included Andheri’s Lokhandwala road, Andheri – Kurla road, Kurla’s LBS Marg, Kherwadi road heading towards BKC as well as several patches in Powai and on the Eastern Expressway.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Ansari added, “Besides concretisation, drainage systems must be improved and the manhole covers must be protected in order to ensure that the potholes don’t emerge on the asphalt roads and prevent water logging. Furthermore, the unwanted vehicles parked along either sides of the roads and the encroachments, which slow down the traffic, must be cleared.”

Besides this, S V Road between Lucky junction to Badi Masjid has also been witnessing traffic snarls owing to potholes, with the Mumbai Traffic police issuing an alert on Tuesday.

According to Asif Zakaria, former corporator from Bandra (West), the traffic therein has been further impeded with the commencement of metro construction work.

Zakaria said, “The first lane of the carriageway has been barricaded by the metro project. The traffic moves to the last lane. Also, the road is in a bad state making both, the northbound and the southbound lanes on S V road traffic prone.”