These ‘pothole warriors’ call BMC to task

For Mushtaq Ansari, a Mahim resident, the day begins with tracking the BMC’s (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) Twitter handle to zero in on the location from where maximum complaints related to potholes have been received

For Mushtaq Ansari, a Mahim resident, the day begins with tracking the BMC’s (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) Twitter handle to zero in on the location from where maximum complaints related to potholes have been received.

Dhaval Shah, a Lokhandwala resident, points to potholes near DN Nagar Metro station HT Photo

If that area comes within the ‘jurisdiction’ of his six-member team - who are ‘deployed’ in Goregaon, Andheri, Bombay Central, and Dharavi, he asks them to visit the sites and ensure that the potholes are fixed by civic engineers within the stipulated 48 hours claimed by the BMC.

Ansari is one of those alert citizen groups known as “pothole warriors”, who function like a mini opposition to the civic body during monsoon.

“Whenever we come across people tweeting about more than two complaints from a location, we go on our motorbikes to monitor the potholes. We then visit the local ward office and ensure that the BMC fills the potholes using correct material and methodology,” Ansari said.

Ansari claims to have helped the BMC fix potholes on L J road and Dr Dilip Gupte Road in Mahim; Shivaji Park Circle; 60 feet road in Dharavi; Andheri Link Road in JB nagar; Turner road near Popley junction in Bandra West; and Sakinaka junction.

In 2018, Goregaon resident Dadarao Bilhore’s teenaged son ran his bike into a pothole and died. A year later, his sister-in-law too suffered serious injuries in an accident allegedly caused by potholes. Pained by these incidents, he took matters into his own hands and started filling potholes on congested streets.

After the BMC dubbed his work illegal, he started informing the BMC of the roads riddled with potholes. Thus, he earned the moniker of `pothole dada’.

“In July alone, I have detected major potholes near Vijay Nagar bridge in Andheri, on number 16 school road leading to Aarey Colony, and Marol-Marashi Road near Kanakiya rainforest gate, and got most of them repaired by the civic body,” he said.

Dhaval Shah, chairman, Lokhandwala-Oshiwara Citizens’ Association, has alone detected 50 potholes on a 1.4-km stretch of Andheri Link Road from DN Nagar Metro station to Infinity mall.

“First we find out under whose jurisdiction the road falls – the BMC or the MMRDA [Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority]. Accordingly, we approach their offices. All major junctions like DN Nagar, Infinity mall, Star Bazar, and Fun Republic have been washed out. After I highlighted the places near DN Nagar Metro station where there were 50 potholes, civic officials repaired at some places with paver blocks and cold mix instead of mastic asphalt. They have used a temporary band-aid treatment,” Shah said, adding that the travelling time from Metro junction to Infinity mall now takes 20 minutes instead of five minutes.

A BMC official told HT that these active citizens work as additional hands and eyes of the civic body and they also work as a medium to empower people.

“This way we get to identify more potholes and citizens won’t even hold a grudge against the administration for not doing its job. They also sometimes observe how we fill potholes under technical specifications,” he said.

The BMC has initiated a mission to tackle the pothole menace by converting all asphalt roads into concrete ones in the next five years.

According to a senior official, the BMC has already made more than 50% of the 2,055-km asphalt roads in Mumbai concrete.