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Tag the potholes away: BMC plans relaunch of plaints app

Hindustan Times, Mumbai | BySagar Pillai
Jun 23, 2019 01:56 AM IST

Vijay Singhal, additional municipal commissioner, said Voice of Citizens had additional features compared to MCGM 24x7.

After former civic chief Ajoy Mehta scrapped the app to track potholes in the city, his successor Praveen Pardeshi has approved its re-introduction. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) plan, citizens will be able to register complaints regarding potholes on the mobile phone app, Voice of Citizens, which will be available on Android and Apple platforms in July. The BMC already has an app called MCGM 24x7 to register all civic complaints, including potholes.

One of the members of the team involved in the process of developing Voice of Citizen said, “New features are being planned to be included in the app in the future.(HT Photo)
One of the members of the team involved in the process of developing Voice of Citizen said, “New features are being planned to be included in the app in the future.(HT Photo)

One of the members of the team involved in the process of developing Voice of Citizen said, “New features are being planned to be included in the app in the future. Marking live potholes on-the-go is one of the features that will be added. The app will have a map feature which will show citizens how many potholes will come your way while you are travelling on that particular road.” The software is being developed by Probitysoft, which had been given the contract to develop the previous edition of the pothole-tracking app.

Vijay Singhal, additional municipal commissioner, said Voice of Citizens had additional features compared to MCGM 24x7. “With this, we can keep track of not only potholes, but monitor how much material is consumed, whether there are frequent potholes reappearing on the same road and ensure that the quality of such roads is in control,” said Singhal. Voice of Citizens will also alert citizens if their pothole complaint is already registered with the app to avoid duplication.

James John, coordinator with AGNI, said, “It’s a step towards good governance so it’s a welcome move. Gone are the days when citizens are compelled to go to the ward office and lodge their complaints. However, this app needs enforcement which means taking action on the complaint by respective agencies. Other than being a user-friendly app, the system should also fix responsibility.”

With the old pothole-tracking app, Mumbaiites could upload photos of potholes and geo-tag them after which a civic road engineer would inspect the site and assign a concerned contractor to fix them within 48 hours. If the contractor defaulted on the work, the engineer be held responsible and the contractor would be penalised by the BMC. The app also allowed BMC to monitor roadworks and track trenching activities when footpaths were dug up. The BMC shut down the pothole-tracking app in 2015 after the contract with Probitysoft was not renewed.

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