Repair all potholes in 15 days, CM tells BMC, state agencies

Fadnavis told chief secretary Swadhin Kshatriya to ask the concerned agencies to revamp roads after BJP city chief Ashish Shelar wrote him a letter in which he highlighted the problem

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday directed all government authorities responsible for the city roads, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Public Works Department (PWD) and Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to repair all potholes in the city in 15 days.

The BMC claimed that 4,568 potholes had been reported across the city and only 43 of these were yet to be repaired(HT FILE PHOTO)

Fadnavis told chief secretary Swadhin Kshatriya to ask the concerned agencies to revamp roads after BJP city chief Ashish Shelar wrote him a letter in which he highlighted the problem. Whether the four agencies can really repair all potholes in 15 days – after failing to do so year after year – remains to be seen.

On Tuesday, Hindustan Times reported that the BMC, while culpable, was not the only government agency responsible for the sorry state of Mumbai’s roads, given that maintaining the eastern and western express highways is the responsibility of PWD, MSRDC and MMRDA.

The BMC, for its part, is still trying to decide which material and method to use to fix potholes. The other agencies also seem poorly equipped to resolve the issue. The BMC on Tuesday claimed that 4,568 potholes had been reported across the city and only 43 of these were yet to be repaired. This claim was exposed as bogus by commuters and activists.

The BJP has been trying to corner the Shiv Sena over the state of roads and corruption in the BMC ahead of civic elections near year. The BJP-led state government is widely expected to intervene on the issue of roads before the polls.