Rain washes away BMC’S pothole filling deadline
MUMBAI: After setting a deadline of 48 hours to fill all potholes on Thursday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) had to admit on Saturday that it had not met its goal and blamed the recent rainfall for its failure.
Additional municipal commissioner Vijay Singhal said, “Over the past two days, all ward staff are continuously on field. They have taken care of 90% of the potholes. However, this is a continuous process, and potholes recur due to heavy rainfall. We are adhering to the deadline, which is meant to build pressure on the officials and get quick response.”
Singhal said the repaired potholes have been filled with 300 metric tonnes of cold mix.
“We had planned to fill in potholes on Friday night and on Saturday throughout the day, but due to the rains we were not able to fill all the potholes as planned. We will continue working,” said a BMC engineer.
During a debate in the civic body on Thursday, Singhal had assured the elected representatives that the potholes on BMC roads would be filled within 48 hours.
Addressing the media on Saturday, Mumbai’s mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, said, “These complaints [of potholes] are mainly on PWD (Public Works Department) and MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority) roads and not on BMC roads.”
Mahadeshwar was elected from H east ward, which reported the third-highest number of pothole-related complaints.