BMC blames rains for failure to keep 48-hour deadline of filling potholes

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has yet again failed to act on the pothole complaints it had received after the civic body had given itself a deadline of 48 hours to fill all potholes. It now blames the recent rainfall which didn’t allow them to meet their desired goal.

The BMC had made the promise in the corporation meeting on Thursday after corporators across wards took a dig at the administration. The civic body had received 837 pothole complaints in the first month of monsoon.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Vijay Singhal said, “Over the past two days, all ward staff have been continuously in the 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, however, 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 throughout Saturday, but due to the rains we were not able to fill all the potholes as planned. We will continue working,” said a BMCengineer. During a debate in the civic body on Thursday, Singhal had assured the elected representatives that the potholes would be filled within 48 hours.

Addressing the media on Saturday, Mumbai’s mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, had said the complaints received by the civic body do not come under the BMC jurisdiction. “These complaints [of potholes] are mainly on PWD (Public Works Department) and MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority) roads and not on BMC roads,” he had said.