BMC yet to repair over 200 roads

Brace yourself for more traffic jams this month as Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is yet to finish the road repair work of over 200 roads across the city. The deadline to finish the Rs 1000-crore repair work of around 900 roads is May 31.

The civic officials are carrying out repair work in full swing to meet the deadline. A senior civic official said, “The shutting down of stone quarries led to a delay in the entire road repair project. However, we are confident we will finish the repair work before time.”

The civic body’s road repair work was recently stalled after several stone quarries were shut in Navi Mumbai which was a major source of supplies for the construction or repair of road and bridges work.

The official added that the department is under pressure to finish the repair work and officials have not taken a single leave in the month. “We have no other option than completing the work before monsoon.”

Previously, commencement of the road repair work which was delayed due to required traffic permissions since taking up the repair work of all roads will inconvenience citizens as well as the corporation.

Ashish Negi, Chembur resident, said, “The BMC took seven months to finish 700 roads then how can we expect them to finish over 200 roads in 10 days?”

The project had involved the repairing of 881 roads and 123 junctions across the city. Altogether, the repair works of 444 roads in western suburbs, 262 roads in the island city and 298 roads in eastern suburbs were taken up on October 2016.

Last year’s monsoon revealed the shoddy work done by the civic body; this can be easily seen with a rise in the number of potholes in the city.