35 complaints of potholes every day since June 10: BMC

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has received at least 35 pothole complaints a day over the past month. BMC said citizens across Mumbai reported 1,070 potholes between June 10 and July 09 on the mobile app MCGM 24X7.

Most of the potholes — 161 of them — were reported in the K-East ward, which includes areas around Andheri (East), such as Marol and Saki Naka.

South Mumbai had the least number of complaints — 77 potholes were reported in the same period.

Hundreds of potholes surface on Mumbai’s roads every monsoon, slowing down traffic on arterial highways and causing accidents, many of which have been fatal. This year, like previous years, all authorities in charge of taking care of roads claimed to have completed pre-monsoon maintenance work.

The BMC maintains 2,000 sq km of roads in the city, and allocated ₹1,520 crore for the roads department in its 2019-20 budget — 25% more than the previous year.

Following citizens’ complaints, the BMC claims to have fixed 964 of the 1,070 potholes. In the K-East Ward, BMC officials said they have fixed 134 of the 161 potholes, and in south Mumbai, only three of the 77 reported potholes are yet to be fixed.

“Roads in the city are not designed properly,” said Yogesh Ambe, a road safety expert.

“Both authorities and citizens seem to be content with a pothole being filled up, but we also have to ensure that we adapt newer technologies and designs for our roads to take the load of vehicles, so that potholes don’t resurface.”