Lack of manpower brings repairs of city’s 336 roads to a standstill

Mumbai:mumbaiites may have to experience bumpy roads this monsoon as repair and maintenance work on 336 roads, along with the ambitious Coastal Road project and cleaning nullahs has hit a roadblock, owing to the coronavirus lockdown. This is despite the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) putting road repair work in the category of essential services.

According to BMC officials, while the notification issued by municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi had given an exemption to carrying out the repair of road works, Coastal Road construction and other sewage-related works, the Union home ministry’s notification on the lockdown is not clear on the same.

A BMC official said, “Even if the Central government would have allowed us to carry out work, we are practically not in that position due to shortage of labour and manpower.”

“There is a huge shortage of labour considering many labourers have gone back to their hometowns after the lockdown was announced. Whatever labour is available, we are not able to get them to work daily considering there are restrictions on

public transportation,” the official said.

Sanjay Darade, deputy municipal commissioner (infrastructure), said, “Currently, our road repair and Coastal Road work is hit. We may be able to complete the work if we are in a position to start construction work postapril 14, when the lockdown ends. However, we cannot predict anything considering there is no clarity over how the situation would be in the coming days.”

As per BMC’S records, repair and maintenance work on around 336 major and minor roads is currently ongoing wherein the paver-block roads are being cemented. All this work has been stuck for a week now.

Meanwhile, with monsoon just over two months away, BMC’S pre-monsoon work to make Mumbai flood-proof has hit a roadblock too.

A senior civic official from the stormwater drains (SWD) department said, “The main problem right now is lack of labour. We have to think about the labourers as their safety is essential.”

Pre-monsoon work includes desilting nullahs, cleaning the stormwater drain network, water entrances and laterals on roads.

This ensures that the stormwater drains are not clogged with silt and garbage, and can be used to maximum capacity to carry rainwater into the sea.

Another official from SWD department said, “The tendering is delayed for desilting nullahs due to the coronavirus outbreak. In western suburbs, four tenders for desilting of nullahs are yet to be awarded.”

The SWD department will soon table proposals before the standing committee for approval.