Surprise inspection exposes poor workmanship on Khar Road; BMC slaps ₹75L fine

MUMBAI: Despite spending thousands of crores to concretise Mumbai’s roads and ensure they remain pothole-free for 25 years, a major lapse on 34th Road in Khar West has exposed glaring quality control failures across all three levels of oversight.

In a surprise inspection on April 7, additional municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar discovered that the dry lean concrete (DLC) base—meant to provide a strong foundation—was so poorly executed it could be crumbled by hand. The contractor initially claimed the concrete had been cured for the mandatory seven days, but later backtracked in response to a show-cause notice, admitting it had only been cured for three.

“This kind of softness should never be possible in cured concrete,” said Bangar. “It indicated serious flaws in compaction and material quality.”

Other violations included the use of coarse aggregates of 60mm instead of the required 20mm, and uneven surfaces far beyond the permissible 2–5mm range. Critically, the mandatory Field Dry Density (FDD) test—which checks for proper compaction—had not been done, compromising the road’s strength and lifespan.

Following an internal inquiry, the BMC fined the road contractor ₹50 lakh, penalised the quality monitoring agency (QMA) ₹25 lakh, and suspended the ward’s sub-engineer. An assistant engineer received an official warning.

“Neither the contractor ensured quality, nor did the QMA catch these issues. Even the ward staff on-site missed them,” Bangar said. “This was not malafide, but a result of ignorance and a casual attitude.”

Had the issue not been caught in time, the top layer—pavement quality concrete (PQC)—would have been laid over the faulty base, leading to premature deterioration.

The contractor has now been asked to redo the stretch entirely. Bangar emphasised that heavy penalties for even small stretches are intended to send a strong deterrent message. “We can’t inspect every road, but we can make examples out of the ones we catch,” he said.

The BMC is racing to meet a May 31 deadline for 400 km of road concretisation. Of the 700 roads taken up in Phase 1, 260 have been completed. In Phase 2, work has begun on 1,421 roads, with 56 done so far.