Perry Cross Rd residents irked by sluggish road repairs

In this duration, residents have been sidestepping excavated portions of the 250-meter road, and faced allied problems such as repeated cuts to their electricity, gas and wifi connections, low and contaminated water supply, blocked entrances to their buildings, and vehicles getting damaged due to the lack of barricades

MUMBAI: Residents of Perry Cross Road, Bandra, are not encouraged by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) promise that all road works in their neighbourhood will be completed by May 31, as they have been beleaguered with challenges of navigating a bad thoroughfare for over six months. Having reached their threshold of patience, they dashed off a letter to additional municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar, on Thursday, expressing their woes.

Mumbai, India, May 08, 2025: BMC is digging Perry Cross Road to repair the Bandra area, Mumbai. Mumbai, India. May 08, 2025. (Photo by Raju Shinde/ HT Photo) (Hindustan Times)

“Work on our 250-meter road has been on at a snail’s pace since October 2024,” said Sujata Kabraji, a member of ALM 118 that represents 24 buildings and bungalows along the road. “We have been consistently monitoring the work, meeting the contractor and BMC officials every week, pleading with them to fast-track it, but apart from verbal promises, nothing has materialised. They promised to complete the task by March, but we doubt if they will be able to meet the May 31 deadline,” she said.

In this duration, residents have been sidestepping excavated portions of the 250-meter road, and faced allied problems such as repeated cuts to their electricity, gas and wifi connections, low and contaminated water supply, blocked entrances to their buildings, and vehicles getting damaged due to the lack of barricades, etc.

And if that were not enough, a massive three-meter crack has surfaced in front of an under-construction building, Ambar. When HT visited the site on Thursday, as this portion of the road was being fixed, the contractor and worker put the blame on its condition on heavy vehicles entering the building being constructed before the curing was complete.

Another member of the ALM, Marukh Vazifdar said, “The road in front of my building, Peridot, was done last week, after being dug up repeatedly over months, first for storm water drains, and then for a water line and other utilities. After concrete was laid over one night, one side of the road was barely cured for a day. (The optimal time given for a road to be cured is seven days.) The squares made to hold water to allow curing are missing along half the length of the road. Only pieces of cloth have been laid, and now even a car is parked on it. The road is unlikely to last long.”

Laila Dashti, a resident of Kalpak Gullistan, recalled a similar sequence of events in front of her building, where a newly constructed road was cured only for a day, and then opened to vehicles.

“The water we’ve been receiving is of a poor quality. A test done by an external agency showed that it is non-potable with the presence of e.Coli bacteria. BMC refuted the claim, but has not come back with test results to prove otherwise,” she said, adding, “Due to the lack of barricades, an elderly gentleman fell and fractured his hipbone in February.”

Asif Zakaria, former corporator of the area, said: “The contractor, AIC Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, employed a sub-contractor MB Infra, who has consistently been either shoddy or has delayed the work. Residents have been meeting him every week. Parts of the road work that will remain incomplete when monsoons hit will be a nightmare to navigate.”

While senior BMC officials were unaware of the issues on the road, an assistant engineer overlooking the work, blamed the delays on utilities that needed to be fixed. “We started with work on storm water drains, which we had to halt due to pending work on the water line, which took at least two months. We will ensure the road is in a motorable condition before the monsoon,” he said.

Likewise, a worker from MB Infra who was on-site, blamed the delay on the utilities. “We waited for the water pipeline for two months; additionally, many buildings had to get gas pipeline connections which took a while, which was followed by an electricity cable work. We started work on storm water drains since October, but we’ve only been able to get down to it fully from the last week of March.”

When asked if work will be completed by May 31, he said, “The portions that have been dug up will be done by then, but the other half which remains undone on certain stretches will only be possible after October. We’ll patch up the portion between the concrete road and part that isn’t done.”