BMC issues ₹36-crore tenders to fix potholes

BMC has introduced Reactive Asphalt technology, but it’s pretty costly. Hence, it cannot be used everywhere. The cost allocated for Reactive Asphalt is ₹9 crore,” said Chahal. “BMC opted for Rapid hardening concrete (RHC), which was tried last year. It requires a dry spell of a minimum of six hours

Mumbai: In a bid to provide fast relief to the citizens who are complaining about potholes in the city, the civic body has invited ₹36-crore tenders for the mastic to be used on the roads, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Iqbal Chahal said on Saturday.

Mumbai, India - July 29, 2023 : The Members of Watchdog foundation with Childrens did a Unique Protest by covering the potholes by Colourful umbrellas near Our Lady of Velankanni Grotto, Sahar Village at Andheri, in Mumbai, India, Saturday, July 29, 2023. (Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo)

“On all the major roads in Bandra, Khar and Juhu, metro works are going on. The metro contractors are attending to the potholes in these areas. The central agencies and ward agencies are coordinating for the rest of the potholes,” he added.

Chahal said that continuous rain in the last week hampered work of filling potholes, which the civic body is trying to attend to as per its deadline of 48 hours.

“BMC has introduced Reactive Asphalt technology, but it’s pretty costly. Hence, it cannot be used everywhere. The cost allocated for Reactive Asphalt is ₹9 crore,” said Chahal. “BMC opted for Rapid hardening concrete (RHC), which was tried last year. It requires a dry spell of a minimum of six hours.”

Meanwhile, on Saturday, the Watchdog Foundation held a demonstration against potholes in the Andheri East area by placing colourful umbrellas in the potholes. Godfrey Pimenta, from the Watchdog Foundation, said, “This was our way to highlight the pothole issue and get attention from the government. Even emergency vehicles are getting delayed because of the potholes in many places,” Pimenta said.

Manish Valanju, assistant commissioner of the K East ward, said that there was some sewerage project going on at the road where the demonstration happened. The potholes at the demonstration site were filled within a few hours of the demonstration.

This, however, is not the only spot due to which the citizens are irked. Various roads across the city are thriving with potholes, and citizens from all three parts – island city, eastern suburbs and western suburbs – have said that despite repeated complaints to the authorities, the pothole menace has continued.

Criticising BMC’s habit of wasting money on potholes every year, advocate Trivankumar Karnani, founder, Mumbai North Central District Forum said, “The complaints are not attended to or forwarded to other departments. The concerned officers are guilty of dereliction of duty and must face criminal prosecution. Why does it fall upon the citizens to highlight these infrastructure failures? Is it not within the civic body’s purview to monitor and address these issues?”

A senior official from BMC said, “The new pothole-filling technology didn’t work; hence a new tender was floated. Pothole filling on all roads wider than 6 metres are with the central roads agency, and wards can only fill potholes on roads up to 6 metres wide. The BMC will pass on the responsibility MMRDA, MMRDA will pass it back to the BMC and so on and so forth. There should be no potholes in the first place as per the promise of the Chief Minister just before the monsoons hit.”

On April 8, HT reported on BMC issuing tenders worth more than ₹140 crore to fill potholes with ‘reactive asphalt’ and ‘rapid hardening concrete’ technologies.