BMC reserves 20% of imported pothole-fixing material for Ganpati festival

Mumbai city news: “Of the 38 tonnes bought from the international agencies, 7.6 tonnes will be saved for Ganesh Chaturthi. We are flooded with complaints during the festival season as heavy idols are brought into the city, resulting in wear and tear on roads,” said a civic official.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will save 20% of the imported pothole-fixing material for Ganpati festival, the period when it receives the maximum number of complaints about bad roads.

The BMC’s move to buy expensive pothole material was prompted by the rap it got from the Bombay high court in 2016 for the pothole-ridden roads. (Kunal Patil/HT Photo)

Recently, the civic body bought 38 tonnes of pothole-fixing material worth Rs70 lakh from Austria and Israel.

“Of the 38 tonnes bought from the international agencies, 7.6 tonnes will be saved for Ganesh Chaturthi. We are flooded with complaints during the festival season as heavy idols are brought into the city, resulting in wear and tear on roads,” said a civic official.

The BMC’s move to buy expensive pothole material was prompted by the rap it got from the Bombay high court in 2016 for the pothole-ridden roads.

The high court had asked the BMC to consult experts from the Indian Institute of Engineering and the Central Road Research Institute to ensure that a better quality material is used to fill the potholes.

In 2016, the civic body tested materials from about seven international agencies to repair potholes. It tested materials worth Rs50,000 from each agency before shortlisting two agencies — Smart Age Products from Israel and Eco Green Infrastructure Development from Austria.

A civic official from the roads department said that 80% of the imported material would be distributed among the 24 wards in the city as per their requirement.

He said that the special material will be used only for craters which surface after heavy rain. “Till then, we will ask the wards to use the material prepared at our asphalt plant,” the official said.

The cold mix, which the civic body uses to repair potholes, washes away during heavy rains.

Last year, Ganesh mandals slammed BMC for the craters across city roads. This year, the 10-day festival will start on August 25.

After heavy rains last week, the civic body found more than 500 bad patches on city roads.

“We are trying to repair most bad patches during the dry spell,” the official said.