City’s road concretisation to end by May 31: Dy CM Shinde

The assurance came at a meeting of more than 20 Mumbai MLAs, from various parties, convened by assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar.

MUMBAI: The state government on Monday said that all streets currently being concretised would be completed by May 31. The assurance came at a meeting of more than 20 Mumbai MLAs, from various parties, convened by assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar. At the meeting, MLAs said they were dismayed at the shoddy work, failure of contractors to comply with regulations, the exceedingly slow pace of work, lack of transparency, lack of coordination between agencies, sub-contracting of work, among others.

Dy CM Eknath Shinde with CM Devendra Fadnavis (ANI)

The meeting, which had been announced by Narwekar last week, saw opposition MLAs alleging corruption in the concretisation work and demanding an inquiry by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police into the contracts.

At the meeting, deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, who is also the urban development minister, came face to face with Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray for the first time in a meeting. While the city-wide concretisation drive was launched by Shinde in January 2023, to make Mumbai “pothole-free”, Thackeray has consistently alleged corruption in the contracts awarded.

“Our party leader Aaditya Thackerayji has demanded an EOW probe. The contracts were awarded at a much higher rate than their actual price,” claimed Bandra East MLA Varun Sardesai. Kandivali East MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar raised the issue of lack of coordination between various agencies and between departments of the municipal corporation.

Despite the barrage of complaints about an initiative that has impacted Mumbaiites all across the city, Shinde was present for barely 10 minutes at the very end of the meeting. “He came for the last ten minutes only, and assured the MLAs that the work would be completed by May 31. BJP and Shiv Sena MLAs supported Shinde by thanking him for a drive that would make the city pothole-free in the next three years,” said a BJP legislator.

Significantly, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been without elected representatives for close to three years as elections to civic and local self-government bodies are tied up in litigation. In the absence of elected municipal corporators, the BMC is administered by the municipal commissioner, who reports to the urban development department.

Guardian minister of Mumbai suburban district, Ashish Shelar said: “Shinde has assured that all projects will be completed by May 31 and no new road works will be undertaken by municipal corporations. Contractors will be told to put up boards giving specifications of the ongoing works and exhibit an audit report on social media. The additional municipal commissioner will review ongoing works by the end of April, while the assistant commissioners will ensure that all the roads in their respective areas are completed on time,” he said.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had earlier this month told the state legislature that the government’s mission of making Mumbai pothole-free would be achieved by 2027. The first phase of concretisation is 27% complete, while more than 50% of the second phase is complete.