BMC says potholes declined by 30% in past one year

Mumbai: As per the data shared by civic officials, the number of potholes reported in the past year has declined by 30%. Between April 1 and July 7, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) filled 7,211 potholes, while 10,199 potholes were reported in Mumbai during the same period last year, the data states.

Civic officials from the roads department attributed the decline in the number of potholes to the concretising of roads. Mumbai has a road network of 1,200 kilometres, out of which civic officials have said more than 900 km have already been concretised.

The officials also maintained that in the past six years, more than 600 km of roads have been concretised at an average of 100 km each year.

“Compared to the island city, more potholes are now being reported from the suburbs. The reason being, there are fewer concretised roads in the suburbs. Transforming asphalt roads into concrete is the only possible way to counter this problem,” said a senior official of the civic roads department.

The officials maintained that to fill potholes in asphalt roads a component of dry cold-mix is being used. Therefore, following a spell of rain, the surface of roads gets eroded which leads to the formation of potholes.

The officials said that usage of the cold mix is only a temporary measure of tackling the road problems and it can never bring a permanent end to the problem.

“At present, we are filling large crater-sized potholes temporarily with paver blocks and after a few days when the heavy rains are stopping, we are using cold-mix to fill them,” the official said.

The civic officials also maintained that there are several agencies like Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), and Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) that are also responsible for maintaining the roads.

“In the western suburbs, several roads are also being dug up for the metro works. The BMC is not responsible for maintaining these roads, but the MMRDA is. Similar is the case with the Western Express Highway (WEH) as well,” the official added.

Meanwhile, activists and urban planners stated it is unfair to compare last year’s figures with this year since the monsoon arrived late this year.

“Last year, monsoon made its landfall by end of May while this year, the proper monsoon started only two weeks back. So, it is not fair to compare the data of the previous two years,” said Ashish Desai, a city-based activist and urban planner.

Mushtaq Ansari, a city-based activist who runs a Twitter handle, “potholewarriors” maintained that there has been a relief from potholes in certain areas of the city.

“I stay in Mahim and after several roads were concretised in past one year, there are few potholes that we can see this year in Mahim. Earlier there used to be multiple potholes in every 10 meters, but this time the average frequency of spotting potholes has also decreased,” said Ansari.

Meanwhile, in a bid to corner the Shiv Sena which rules the BMC, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has initiated a “PotHoleYatra” campaign ahead of the civic elections, wherein it intends to blame the civic body for the shoddy road conditions by visiting some of the pothole prone roads of Mumbai.

“With engineers of @mybmcRoads started #PotHole yatra, Day 1 citizens of #Mulund Can WhatsApp me photos Along with location on 8454858833 will try and get work done ASAP. Tall &False claims of the ruling party in @mybmc exposed,” tweeted BJP Legislator from Mulund, Mihir Kotecha.