FESTIVAL ADVICE Fill potholes immediately Having experienced a bumpy ride on pothhole-ridden city roads,Chief Minister Ashok Chavan recently lashed out at Mayor Shraddha Jadhav for not taking effective measures to make the roads motorable. With Ganeshotsav nearing,Chavan has urged the Shiv Sena-led Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to fill potholes on a war footing. In a meeting of Ganesh Mandal co-ordination committee members,BMC and the CM,mandal members said even though the civic body claims to have filled 5,434 big potholes,another 2,000 potholes in the vicinity of mandals still remain uncleared. This is despite an allocation of Rs 60 crore. the condition of roads is dismal, said a committee member. Chavan,in a harsh tone,told Jadhav that even he had experienced bumpy rides while driving through the city. He said despite a break in rainfall over the last two days,the civic body had not carried out road repairs. Asked about the incident,Jadhav said the CM did not lash out at her. There are potholes on roads at various parts of the city. We will fill the potholes ahead of Ganpati festival, she said. Chavan has asked the BMC to give priority to major routes from where big Ganpati idols are carried. Committee members said it was important to repair them first as any damage to idols because of the potholes could result in problematic situations. Do not delay this work, the CM told the BMC. CM to seek Centres nod to relax noise pollution normsChavan has agreed to seek the Centres permission for relaxing silence zone norms during all the 11 days of Ganpati festival. As per rules,there is a ban on use of loudspeakers in 2,237 silence zones,though several mandals are located around them. Chavan has also agreed to look into the demand of extending the noise pollution deadline up to midnight on four days of the festival,instead of three days. The deadline would also be extended by one more day for conducting cultural programmes as part of the states golden jubilee celebrations.
