Civic body’s pothole tracker ineffective

The civic body’s online pothole-tracking system is turning out to be ineffective.

The civic body’s online pothole-tracking system is turning out to be ineffective.

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The system, introduced in November 2011, gives an opportunity to Mumbaiites to photograph potholes and upload the pictures on the BMC website. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has assured that these potholes will be attended to within 48 hours.

However, it is learnt that civic contractors have refused to fill potholes which are not photographed and uploaded on the website, for fear of not getting paid. This, it is alleged, has led to an increase in the number of unattended potholes in the city.

Over 5,000 potholes have been detected across the city since November 2011.

According to the new system, when a photograph is uploaded on the website, the pothole is assigned to a contractor. “After receiving photos, we segregate them and then assign them to the contractors. The contractor does not work on any other pothole, because the payment is made only for the assigned pothole and not for any extra work,” said Girish Patil, executive engineer, roads department.

There have been instances where a contractor has filled a particular pothole, but has not attended to the adjacent one, because it was not photographed, it is learnt.

Apart from assigning potholes ward-wise, the civic body assigns the potholes to various departments — such as hydraulic engineering, sewage operations —depending on which department’s work is in progress on the particular road. These departments have their separate contractors to fill the potholes.

However, standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale asserted that any pothole, whether photographed or not, has to be filled by the contractor. “We have made it clear to contractors that they have to fill all the potholes. It is in the contract,” he said. Some corporators have also alleged that that there is a nexus between civic officials and contractors. “Forget about those which are not photographed, the contractors are not attending to even the photographed ones,” said Dilip Lande, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) group leader in the BMC.