Burning the midnight oil: Contractor repairs pothole-ridden road in Parel FPJ IMPACT
After FPJ published a news about the bad condition of NM Joshi Marg of Parel where a number of potholes had developed following the heavy rainfall, the BMC immediately swung into action and repaired the road in the midnight of the day the report was published.
M E Infra, the contractor appointed by BMC, filled up potholes by using unethical means on Wednesday and a video clip of the action was captured by the Free Press Journal. Immediately afterwards, officials of the Roads Department of BMC took cognizance of the news report and by late Wednesday night itself filled all the potholes of the NM Joshi Marg.
“As traffic is quit less during night hours, the appointed contractor took the pothole filling work on a war footing. The said stretch has been repaired now,” BMC’s Roads Department Chief Engineer Vinod Chithore said.
Interestingly, when Free Press Journal again visited the site, the potholes have resurfaced. The sand with which the potholes have been filled spilled and can completely drain out again after a heavy rainfall. One pedestrian in the Parel vicinity remarked, “Only for the time being to cover up themselves and the potholes, they have done a hasty work. Potholes will develop again on the repaired patch during the next heavy rainfall.”
However, Chithore said, “The imported mix is yet to be given to all ward officers. Right now, the contractor for N M Joshi Marg has filled the potholes with available material and it has not used the imported mix which the BMC procured from Israel and Austria.”