Despite a long dry spell and a weekend,the civic administration has failed to fill over 75 per cent of potholes reported since August 1. After repeated excuses of heavy rain and continuous traffic,which according to officials and contractors,pose as a major hindrance while filling potholes,BMC has only filled 440 of the 1,709 potholes reported in the past four days,according to the pothole tracking website of the civic body. Additional municipal commissioner,S V R Srinivas said: Most have been repaired,but the data might not be updated on the BMCs software. Three people,including a woman,died in accidents due to potholes last month. Bombay High Court recently rapped BMC for failing to repair potholes on time. The blame game,however,continues. This week,in an almost unprecedented outrage over shoddy pothole filling work,Shiv Sena-ruled BMC had senior party leaders scurrying for cover or providing explanation for unfilled potholes. While party chief Uddhav Thackeray expressed regret over the poor condition of roads,his son Aditya,too,admitted to the pothole menace. BMC standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale tendered his resignation on July 30 and took moral responsibility for the failure of civic body to repair potholes,which was rejected by the Sena chief. On paper,BMC has made false claims about filled potholes,but the reality is different. Even if potholes are filled,the work is not done as per the standard procedure. I have seen that bitumen mix is just dumped on the pothole and levelled. Typically,the material needs to be tested for quality,the pothole has to be cleaned and dried,only after which can the mix be bound, said Raees Shaikh,Samajwadi Party corporator. Mumbai Congress president Janardhan Chandurkar,who led a protest of about 4,000 party workers on Saturday,said,If BMC keeps giving out road repair tenders to the same contractors who do shoddy work,how will the roads ever be pothole-free? Those responsible for passing such contracts,such as Shewale,stage a farce of resigning. BJPs Dilip Patel,who is a standing committee member,said there was no credibility in BMCs promises and claims of filling up potholes. Most of the potholes in my area (Juhu) are yet to be filled. There is no master plan to fill potholes properly and everything has been left to the mercy of the contractor or the junior engineer, said Patel. Political parties hogged the limelight in the last few days,criticising the administration and filling potholes themselves. BMC,meanwhile,set various deadlines for filling craters. Even as Ganesh festival is scheduled to start on September 9,the August 15 deadline has now been extended by 10 days. Of the 818 roads,330 roads will be given utmost priority as they fall on the immersion routes. Although all the potholes in the city will be filled on an urgent basis,extra care and attention will be given to 40 per cent of the roads which fall under the immersion routes, said Srinivas,adding that there will be zero tolerance for shoddy work on these roads. sharvari.patwa@expressindia.com
