Can the BMC meet the deadline?

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is racing against time to make Mumbai monsoon-ready — it has just 23 days left to finish the work.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is racing against time to make Mumbai monsoon-ready — it has just 23 days left to finish the work.

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Municipal Commissioner Subodh Kumar has set May 15 as the deadline for all pre-monsoon work to be completed.

However, elected representatives — who often face public anger when roads flood or get damaged during the monsoon — doubted that the deadline could be met. “Ideally, nullah-cleaning work should have started on April 1. It is already 21 days late,” said Rajul Patel, a Shiv Sena corporator.

Normally, the BMC finishes 70% of the nullah cleaning before the onset of the monsoon, 20% during the monsoon and the rest later. Mumbai has more then 200 km of major nullahs and 129 km of small nullahs. The city has 1,986 km of roadside drains, which empty into the small nullahs.

If the contractors cleaning up these drains fail to meet the deadline, they will be fined.

Over 400 km of roads have been dug up by various utilities, including water supply and sewage operations, for laying pipelines or repairing cables. Kumar said the trenches and potholes would be filled up on time.

“There are generally three to four potholes at each location, which means the city has at least 7,000 potholes,” said a Road Department official on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.